The Guild of United Slayers
by Queen of the Squares
Summary: It seemed simple, easy, a blowoff quest. At least that's how Ashlen and Stellas saw their mission to observe and collect data on Cross Academy. Soon though, strange things begin to occur. Minds are controlled, ghosts start to haunt, and betrayal stains the air. The two agents are then forced to go out of their way to protect the Vampires that go to the academy. TakumaOC and AidouOC
1. Prologue: Mission

**First VK fic, be nice.**

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Prologue:

The hollow pounding on my locked, thick paneled wooden door woke me up. Grumbling, I sat up on my bed, rubbing the sleep from my hazel, non-transformed eyes. I ran a tanned hand through my copper-toned, tangled hair and stood, bending over at the waist with hands on my knees as I groaned. I had just returned from the infirmary after a long mission, battling a Wendigo. My teammate, Ashlen, had to call for back up after the canine-like beast had ripped my abdomen open. The healing witches had a hard time working on me due to the fact that my kind doesn't heal like mortals. Even though I was stitched up, I still held intense pain from any sudden movements.

I held my back straight and stretched my arms before walking across the stone floor to the door, my long, flowing sleeping pants (made out of rare silk, woven by the giant spiders that live in the Amazon) making swishing sounds as I walked. I lifted the bar off of my door, opening the lock, and turned the knob. Allowing myself to face a page, about the age of fourteen, who held a small figure. Judging by his pointed ears, upturned eyes, and lean figure, he's Elven.

"What is it?" I growled, baring my teeth as I snarled. The pain, as well as the time, makes me a very unhappy worker. The boy jumped back, eyes widened at my outburst and snarl.

"Leader needs to see you!" he said and I growled again, this time in exasperation. I come back, mortally wounded from one mission, and what does he do? Call me again! It's as if the man has no respect for others –Oh wait. He doesn't. I bit back my increasing frustration. As an Elite, I'm watched very carefully by the other creatures that live and work here. They can get away with any type of slaughter as long as it's excused with protecting Leader from a threat.

"Fine, tell him I'll be there in ten minutes," the boy saluted, then bowed, hand curled at the sternum, as is the custom in Elfish culture to show respect.

"Yes ma'am," the boy said, standing up straight. "I'll inform him immediately of your arrival. Try not to dally." With that, he turned and ran away, a long green ponytail –which stuck out from underneath his cap –bouncing as he ran. I hadn't even noticed the odd coloring of his hair.

I shut the door and grumbled, "Damn. That man… doesn't that man know not to wake a Werewolf during the day?"

I then went to my small trunk which held a meager batch of belongings –here, we aren't allowed to own much, and if we die, our things are then recycled and remade into something new that will benefit the organization. I took the key, which held like the medallion of a king around my neck, and stuck it into the latch, unlocking the cast iron lock that held fast the wooden trunk. After it had been open, I pulled out my mission clothing –all of which had been folded neatly by a serving fairy - and a few other necessities that I'd need to pack.

I grabbed a satchel from underneath my bed and began packing –extra mission clothing, regular clothes, disguises –such as wigs, colored contacts, and a magical device that looked like a necklace, only it could change make me invisible by pressing on the pendant -, and toiletries. I also threw in my wallet, some drachmas, and a few wads of different substances that would give me an upper hand against other creatures. After this was done, I changed into my mission clothes. They consisted of a black tank top, a pair of black shorts that were tight and went down to my mid/upper thigh, and black knee high boots. I pulled on my fishnet gloves and my golden badge with a large "E" written in calligraphy that signified me as one of the Elite.

I ran outside and used my Werewolf Speed (Or, as it is technically called, Ta Podia Toy Hermes (Feet of Hermes)) to make it to Leader on time. The speed that channeled throw my body tore at my abdomen, the fast, thin blood slipping slightly through the stitches. I frowned, slowing my rapid pace only slightly, and put my left hand against my gash, feeling only a small amount of blood. I sped up again, telling myself that it was ok and I could fix it with one of Ashlen's potions. While witchery couldn't cure or heal severe Lycan wounds, it'd be able to develop a small membrane that would keep me from reopening the deep gashes and loosing too much blood.

Finally, after many turns through the dark, torch lit corridors, I made it to the large ebony doors with gold and silver inlay that led to Leader's large chambers. Many things had changed about this place since he came into power. I only touched the cool stone slightly for the doors to open, albeit slowly. The magic that raced around the grounds created a sweet, but piercing scent. It shrouds everything, so scent-tracking is a difficult task. The smell of magic is strong. It usually covers that of others.

"Stella, tardy as usual. Even Ashlen was on time," he said and I glared at the floor in front of me. _This man…_

"Captain, I have no reason to disrespect you with my tardiness. I only had trouble reaching in a timely manner due to the short notice and the fact that I came out of the infirmary with the instructions to rest for a week or so and take it easy yesterday," I told him, smiling at him with an irritated air.

He ignored my comment and then said, "You've been resting far too long. We have many things going on in the outside world that need to be taken care of. Due to the increase in evil, there's an outbreak of dangerous creatures that want to destroy humankind. As you know, it's our job as Slayers to stop them in their tracks."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ashlen said, wanting to get straight to the point. He looked offended, purple eyes widened with outrage at her interruption as matching lavender insect wings flapped behind him –not enough to lift him off of his throne made from pure ruby –to show his anger. Ashlen ignored this and continued, "What did you need to see us for?"

"I have a mission for you…" he trailed off, a blue hand paused in mid gesture, as he tried to be dramatic. It got on my nerves.

"Well?" I asked impatiently, crossing my arms over my chest. Ashlen held her cool better, but still harshly blew a strand of curly brown hair out of her face. It had most likely slipped from her ponytail as she transported here.

"There is a school, called Cross Academy, it homes humans, as well as Vampires. I am sending you two to go and watch the school, making sure that the Vampires don't try anything with the humans. Because this is a covert mission, and you are both tired and injured from your previous mission, I've decided that you two would be the best choice to send. You most likely won't have to fight unless it's the easy task of taking out Level-E's or if any of the nobles decide they want to eat the humans. Alright?" He asked, we nodded in understanding, he then continued, "There is a Day Class and a Night Class. Stellas, you will be going to the Night Class, since you are a werewolf, and Ashlen, since you are a witch, you will be in the Day Class. I have already talked to Headmaster Cross, founder of the school, and he has agreed to let you two go and keep a watch. The school does have prefects, or guardians if you prefer, and they have been informed of your duties. Ashlen, because you are coming from here, you are to become another prefect. Do you have any questions?"

"Where is the mission?" I asked. Our last one, to discover the reason behind mysterious deaths was located in the Italian Alps. We had no idea it would be a Wendigo.

"Japan."

This caused Ashlen and I to glance at each other. While it made sense that the school would have Vampires, most of the breed stayed in their home of Romania after the bloody war against Werewolves and humans had ended. Only a few, those of the purest standing, had traveled to Japan.

"When do we leave?" Ashlen asked. Usually there's a day or two so that we can prepare for the-.

"Now," He answered, dismissing us with a wave of his perfectly manicured fingernails.

"Captain? What about transportation?" I asked. We transported in many ways, sometimes we would travel by foot, others by planes and trains and cars, and sometimes, one of the older witches or wizards would use magic to send us there. It really depends on the distance.

"The usual way, Stellas," he sighed. I nodded although every fiber in my being shouted to challenge his right of Alpha, then and there. I shook my head to clear it. He wasn't my Alpha. He wasn't one of us. It's a terrible thing to be a Werewolf. We're always looking for a leader, or, if there is none, to lead others. For us, it's a continuous battle for dominance.

"Yes sir," I said, feeling slightly stupid due to the quick and easy answer to my question.

"Good luck. And if you get killed, you will have a very honorable Slayer's United funeral," he said in mock happiness. I snorted. How could he say that? There weren't many Elite in Slayer's United, the only other group of hunters besides the Hunter's Association. Ashlen and I turned and then strode quickly, but with dignity, to the large doors. The wide doors opened without us touching them-magic at its finest- and we began to walk down the dark hallways made out of ebony as well.

The stones made to build everything –except for the occasional wood –here in headquarters were made from the essence of minerals. It's hard for me to comprehend what exactly that is, but from my understand from what Ashlen has told me and from what I've observed, this essence connects with whomever the newest leader of our organization is. It then forms itself to become stones that match the overall personality that the leader possesses. Our past leader, a Griffin named Neffirg, made everything light and beautiful. The place was constructed of gold, pearl, diamond, and other happy precious materials. We all loved him.

Now we're stuck with Redeal (it means King in Pixan).

"So, Vampires, huh?" Ashlen asked. I shrugged my shoulders, running a hand through my still tangled hair.

"Yeah, my sister race," I mused. She snapped her head around to me with confused look implanted on her face.

"What do you mean?" She inquired.

"Well, Vampires and Werewolves have the same mother species, the Ala. The Ala evolved into two different species, which was ours. We have some of the same traits," I told her and she rolled her blue-gray eyes when I gestured to my pointed fangs, which made me look like a Vampire from the outside.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" She told me and I shrugged but could tell where she was coming from. Ashlen and I have known each other since we both came to Slayer's United. I was seven, she was nine. There, we were put into training under a slightly older captain –Kazan –and given another teammate –Suzuki Sato –and we stayed in that group for years. However, Suzuki was sent away to work, and then Kazan got boosted into the Elite, Ashlen and I were left on our own.

"It never came up," I said and laughed a little. We continued to navigate our way through the giant building, passing hallways that housed the other Members and other hallways that were dead ends and were there for apparent reason. The Elite had their own houses, outside of the main house, but still on the grounds. This is because the other Members would try and kill us, to hope and get our place in the Elite. We arrived at the large onyx doors to the Transportation Section. They swung open.

"We need to be trans-" I started but the old woman cut me off.

"I know, I know. Come over here, so I can transport you," the old witch said and we did as we were bid.

"I can't send you directly to the Academy, but I can send you to the town that's near it," she informed us. I saw a blast of blue light envelope us and it started to swirl and undulate in an otherworldly fashion, sweeping around the room like an unearthly apparition. There was a pulling on the small of my back that felt as if, one by one, every single separate disk in my spine were being pulled out. Of course, magical transportation like this, in its basic breakdown, causes one's atom structures to split and then reform when they reach the destination. It's severely uncomfortable.

The pulsing light went away and we ended up in a town which looked as if it was Italian, not Japanese. I turned to Ashlen.

"Are you sure we've been transported to the right place? I've never seen a Japanese city that looked like this."

She shrugged, eyes glancing around, "We should be in the right place. Medea is usually always correct. Plus, if you haven't noticed, the signs are in Japanese."

I looked around, and laughed sheepishly, running a hand through my hair, "Right… heh…"Ashlen shook her head and we began to walk in silence. I felt compelled to yawn, but at the same time, my mind, senses, and Selves were awake in the luminescent moonlight. It's about 2200 here and my inner wolf was wide awake by now, if not a little disgruntled.

"We should head to the Academy. We don't need to waste any time. One of those Vampires could attack a human at any point," Ashlen said. I was the only one that knew of her intense hatred –and slight fear –of Vampires.

"Yeah," I said and we advanced on the Academy. I followed my nose, smelling out the intense, morbid Vampire smell. They leave a scent that resembles posies and blood. It's strange. We continued on, and sooner rather than later, we made it to the large gates. There, I smelled an unfamiliar pheromone, but I could tell that it was human. And female.

"Who are you?" the girl asked me. We stepped forwards into the light so she could see our faces. She must be a guardian.

"Stellas Marris and Ashlen Baker," I informed her and the girl came out to where we could see her.

"The Headmaster told me to escort you to his office," she said. "I'm Yuki, by the way." She observed us with large, deep red eyes. Her short brown hair came down to a black skirt with a black jacket. An armband rested on her sleeve.

"Yuki, are they the new students from Greece?" another voice said, this time male, said. His scent washed across my nose. Vampire, but not a natural one. His scent doesn't smell of posies like a noble, natural Vampire. Humans that are made into Vampires still retain a human stench, but their Vampire smell is more rancid and violent. It's one that causes Werewolves –even Purebloods like myself with large amounts of self-control –to go berserk if kept around it too long. It makes me wonder if other Vampires are affected in the same way. It probably just disgusts them.

"Yes they are!" Yuki told him, putting her hands on her hips.

I tuned out of the conversation once I learned that his name was Zero Kiryuu, and focused on smelling out the Night Class. They are too far away. I can't get a distinct scent, but the aroma of Vampire is rank.

"Stella… Stella… Snap out of it," Ashlen said before slapping me in the arm. I wrenched myself out of my thoughts and involuntarily bared my teeth at her.

"Heh… Heh… Sorry. What's up?" I asked sheepishly.

"Their taking us to the Headmaster now," Ashlen told me, rolling her eyes as she did so.

I rubbed the back of my head and laughed sheepishly… I'm really out of it. Maybe it's because the Vampire stench is so rampant. Yeah, that's probably it.

.

.

.

We reached the Headmaster's office at around 2250. The inside of the school was yellow. That's all I need to say about this place.

The Headmaster is not what I expected. He is childish and has a carefree smile, as if he doesn't care that one of his students could be killed by a Vampire at any second.

"Oh! You must be the new students!" He cried out, then jumped at Yuki to hug her. She side stepped. "Why?! My dear daughter!"

I sweat dropped and so did Ashlen. This man was the Headmaster?

"Yuki, please escort Stellas to the Moon Dorms. Ashlen is going to be in the Sun Dorms," He said. I already knew that. It was because I am nocturnal, and Leader thinks that as a Werewolf, I would be less vulnerable than my Witch teammate. Vampires and Werewolves are sister races after all.

"O-Ok!" Yuki said and grabbed my arm. I glared at her hand, debating whether or not to bite it. I don't like being touched. I looked at the others in the room, wondering if they knew what we were. Leader did say that they knew where we were from, but he never told us if they knew our species. In hindsight, that would have been a marvelous thing to ask him.

But since it was just a hypothesis that they know, I settled for removing it. "I don't like being touched. It brings back bad memories," I muttered, not meeting her eyes. I could feel Ashlen send me a pitying look.

"Um, we might as well get going then!" Yuki told me, and I followed her out the door.

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**Review. This is the edited prologue. **


	2. Chapter 1: Blood and Posies

The school was larger on the inside than it looks on the outside. Stella first noticed it when Yuki had brought Ashen and herself to see the Headmaster. The idiot Headmaster. Hopefully he is better than he appears to be. Something else Stella notice was the smell of them. The smell of vampires. They were close; a Werewolf's candid nose would never lie. However why their scent was diffused over such a large area, Stella would soon find out.

Leaving the school, Stella found herself being lead down the path towards the Moon Dorms. It was then that the smell began to get stronger. Stella's eyes narrowed and she sniffed the air just to make double sure. Yes, only Vampires live there. Good, when the Werewolf reports tonight to the Elite captain, Kazan –Yes, Ashlen and Stella's slightly older team captain progressed to being the most powerful Slayer in the organization (excluding the Leader, of course)-, he will tell Rexdeal who will be pleased. At least hopefully he will.

The two walked in complete quiet –Stella's more reclusive nature getting the best of her. Yuki must not have been comfortable with Stella after her harshness in the Headmaster's office, which is probably why Yuki didn't break the silence either. Turning her to look up at the luminescent moon, the crystal light shining down causing the Werewolf to feel a pulsating itch in the back of her throat, as if it had gone dry. However, Stella knew that it was her inner wolf wanting to break loose and do its duty to the world by killing the bloodsucking leeches. Stella pushed back the creeping sensation of paranoia that comes with being a Were and cleared her throat, coughing slightly, to try and control it better. The full moon always makes the night hours worse.

Suddenly something came to mind, something Stella should have thought of sooner. Obviously Headmaster Cross knew what she and Ashlen were but did the two guards, Yuki and Zero, know? Well she guessed there was only one way to find out.

"Yuki-san, there's something I need to ask you," Stella broke the silence of the glorious night to gain her attention. Seeing the small flinch in Yuki's body it seems that she had been lost in her own thoughts.

"What is it, Stella-san?" she asked the older girl, her head turned and smiling at her. Stella got the feeling she did that often, smiling that is.

"Do you know what I am or why I'm here?" she asked her. This caused Yuki's smile to drop slightly as she nodded.

"Well, the Headmaster told me that you and Baker-san are part of an organization called The Guild of United Slayers, or Slayers United for short. You are a Werewolf, which is why you are being sent to Night Class. You and your partner have been sent to make sure the Vampires in the Night Class don't harm the humans in the school," she answered and Stellas nodded. So if Yuki was told what she was then it was likely that Zero Kiryuu, the former human -judging by his scent -, was also told.

"Don't worry," Stella began, "I wasn't sent here to kill anyone. Ashlen and I were only sent to watch and then exterminate if needed. We're Elite, so you don't have to worry about us making bad calls. We're highly specialized in what we do."

She was trying to reassure her, since Yuki kind of had that "deer in the headlights" look -one that reminded Stella of Melody when she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar -literally.

Yuki had absolutely no idea what Stella was talking about. There were things about Vampires that Yuki didn't even know, at least according to Zero there was. So this kind of thing was hard for her to take in. All she had been told was that the place Stella and Ashlen were two nonhuman creatures that protect humans from other creatures that wanted to hurt the defenseless "mortals".

"Er, what is the Elite? Is it a type of status?" she asked as the two girls neared the heavy Moon Dorm gates.

"To put it simple, yes," Stella answered. Although Yuki still didn't completely understood she nodded and waved Stella over to a door hidden in the side. The door was only known to the Headmaster, prefects and the Night Class themselves.

"This way," Yuki said, motioning to the hidden door. "This entrance was made so the Night Class could get in and out without the Day Class noticing or getting in the way. Although it's not used too often." Yuki said, a friendly smile appearing back on her face. Stella simply huffed.

"Vampires are powerful with seduction. It's a half-assed belief to think that the leeches could ever get along with humans," she muttered. However it wasn't nearly as quiet because Yuki easily heard and frowned at the statement as if she had heard it many times before.

"Please don't insult the Night Class like that. These Vampires are here because they believe peace between humans is possible," the girl informed Stella of this as she opened the secret door. "You first, Stella-san," Yuki offered, stepping aside. The Werewolf shrugged and walked in.

"Personally, I think that my leader should just shut this place down. But it's not up to me. Plus, no Vampires want true peace, all they want is to assert their dominance over other creatures and then annihilate the ones that stand in their way."

"No, that's not true. Some Vampires might be scary but others are very kind," Yuki said with an uncomfortable frown. Stella looked at her and noticed that she had a thoughtful look on her face, as if she were debating something.

"If you think so. It's all in your head. In my occupation, I can't afford to think otherwise," Stella replied as she tried to reject the overwhelming urge to pry. Sadly, her curiosity got the best of her. "It seems like you have something on your mind. What? Cat got your tongue?" Stella questioned playfully. Sighing, Yuki looked over at the werewolf in complete seriousness with an undertone of sadness.

"When I was a very young girl I found myself stranded in a snow storm. I had no memory of how I got there, where I was or who I was for that matter. I was found by a bad vampire who was trying to eat me but Kaname, one of the Vampires in the Night Class, saved my life. He took me to the Headmaster who has been raising me for the past ten years," Yuki told Stella the story of her forgotten past. Her voice almost sounded far away as she remembered that one, frightening night.

Stella sighed at the statement. Kaname, huh? Once Stella had some free time to meet with Ashlen she'd go over the Vampire files with her. It was better to go over the files with Ashlen seeing as it was doubtful her partner would do it alone. Or at least that is what she thought, knowing Ashlen's fear and all.

"Well, I'm the exact opposite," Stella replied with a careless shrug.

"I don't know much about Werewolves. According to Zero I know very little about Vampires as well," Yuki said, her cheeks slightly puffed out stubbornly as they neared the Moon Dorms. Stella surprised herself by chuckling harshly.

"That explains a lot," she muttered. This time Yuki didn't hear.

Stopping at the front door of the Moon Dorms Yuki's smile returned. "This is where I leave you. Your room should be upstairs somewhere. I wasn't told what room it was but one of the Night Class students should know. But it should be a single bedroom, ordered by the headmaster himself."

"Wondrous," Stella said then turned, "I apologize for my rudeness. Thanks for showing me here!" Stella told Yuki as kindly as she could. Her smile widening to more of a cheerful one as the girl gave Stella a respectful, traditional bow.

"It's alright, not everyone will like Vampires, and I understand that. You are very welcome. By the way your school uniform should be in the bedroom as well as the room key. The door will be unlocked for the time being," she finished saying this as she then turned to leave.

"Thanks again!" Stella said, then sniffed, only to gag at the overwhelming scent of blood and posies.

The smell becoming a little too overwhelming, the werewolf banged her fist on her chest as she coughed, the wracking motion causing the stitches in her abdomen to loosen slightly. Stella was unsure how long it'd take her to get used to the smell.

She would also need to remind herself to get a healing potion from Ashlen.

Having heard Stella coughing fit Yuki stopped herself from leaving. Turning back around, she cast the Werewolf girl a concerned look. Hopefully this girl wasn't getting sick on her first day.

"Stella-san, are you alright?"

Stella waved a hand at the human girl as she took a shuddering breath through her mouth. "Yeah, yeah," Stella paused to cough a bit more, "I'm good." She lied and felt her shirt start to stick to her stomach from the wetness of her blood. Apparently, running really fast, teleporting, and coughing isn't good for abdominal stitches.

Going into a mansion full of Vampires while you're bleeding?

Life doesn't get any better than this.

Biting her lip and bringing a finger to her mouth, Yuki frowned. She could easily tell that the werewolf girl was lying. Being raised with an emo boy for six years had taught her to see through lies like that. However, as Yuki couldn't see the blood, as Stella was facing away from her, she couldn't be sure. Yuki was thinking if she should mention anything before looking back at Stellas's head.

"Well, since the rest of the Night Class is in class right now you might as well rest on the couch if you want," Yuki told Stella with a sad smile. "If I knew which room you were in I'd tell you, sorry." Yuki apologized, somehow feeling it was her fault and she should have known.

"It's fine," Stella said, "I'll just get changed and then go to class. I'm a Slayer. We're made to live through small injuries." This comment caused Yuki confusion. So Stella was injured? Why didn't she show her?

Yuki simply bowed again and walked inside the building. "Well I think there might be a bathroom somewhere you can use. I mean, since I don't know where your room is and all." She added the last part with a small, uncomfortable laugh.

"Yuki-san, it's fine about the room. It's not your fault if you weren't told. I'm sure they left someone to show me where everything is," Stella told her reassuringly. Yuki nodded and, walking over sat -uncomfortably by the looks of it- on the chair.

"I will wait for you here and then take you to class."

"Thanks," Stella replied then looked at the inner white of the dorm. It was more like a mansion than a dormitory.

Quickly, Stella went upstairs and began to sniff out a room that smelled the least like Vampire. Believe it or not, her room was the farthest away from the rest of the students.

Hah! Werewolf logic.

Going inside Stella saw a crisp white uniform that looked just like Yuki's -except without the armband and it's a different color. Undressing Stella examined the bleeding wounds on her stomach. The stitches were opened and would need some help healing. Sighing to herself, Stella knew she would need the help of Ashlen's potions to seal the wounds again. Hopefully her partner was at her dorm by now.

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**Hello, this is technically the first chapter, so, I've decided to go ahead and say here that this is a REWRITE of my old story, Slayer's United -hence the similar, but not identical title. I have decided that my old story went too fast and didn't have a steady idea. I'm keeping the plot, but competely rebuilding it. **

**Review, and if you've read my other story, tell me how this one compares so far :)**

**Oh, and if you've sneezed during your reading of this, BLESS YOU.**

**Peace off!**


	3. Chapter 2: Questions and Answers

As Ashlen watched her partner get led out of the Headmaster's office an uncomfortable aura began to set in for her. She wasn't too bothered by the seemingly immature man. She dealt with immature people of all ages in the past so she was far used to them. What really bothered her was she was back in Japan after so many years. However, to Ashlen, it is still far too soon. For it was in Japan that she gained her hatred and fear of Vampires.

_Why Japan? Why vampires? Why me? Did that idiot Leader even think before deciding to send me? _Ashlen thought to herself.

Ashlen hates Vampires almost as much as Stella did. Although her reasons are completely different. It is her hatred and distrust of them that makes her perfect for the job; she would never hesitate to kill a Vampire if needed -not that she hesitates on killing other creatures when the situation calls for it. She's prepared and able to kill the creatures, it's not a stretch for her to use a spell and force out their heart. A Witch's method of killing is completely different than that of other creatures. It's less bloody and a faster kill, brought on by intense curses that are aimed and made to exploit the weaknesses of different beasts. However, Vampires cause chills to run down her spine, and it never helps to be in the country that caused her immense pain and emotional distress. Ashlen hates having to be back in the country she despises.

People in the Slayer's United don't have weaknesses, they aren't allowed. However that doesn't mean the members don't have fears; they just don't show them. Ashlen's fear of vampires goes back to a childhood memory involving her parents. Also, from what the witch knew, Stella was abused as a child, which explained her hate of being touched. However, while the two have been friends and partners for a long time, there are still things that they don't know about each other.

"Headmaster Cross, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the Night Class?" Ashlen asked. As part of the mission the young woman needed to know just what she was dealing with so she knew how to deal with the situation.

"Of course not my dear!" the golden eyed headmaster replied with a smile. "Ask whatever you need to!"

"Exactly how many Vampires are enrolled in the Night Class?" Ashlen started with the second most important question. It was an interrogation strategy that everyone in the Guild had drilled into the agents from the time they entered.

Kaien Cross thought for a few seconds before replying carefully. "Vampires are the minority here. Even though most aristocrats wanted their children to go to this school, there are a lot of families that were set in their old ways. I'd have to say there are only 50 to 60 in all."

_Hmm, at least that's better than 100 or so. Still, that's a pretty big number. However not that many aristocrats would come without a…_ Ashlen trailed off and then looked at the Headmaster square in the face.

"How many of those Vampires are Purebloods?" She asked, her tone almost sour sounding when asking the question.

A strange seriousness overcame Kaien and he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "There is only one."

_One too many but… It could be worse,_ Ashlen thought as she nodded, her body tensed so slightly no normal human should have noticed. "And you trust this vampire?"

Kaien easily saw the young girl's body tense. Being a legendary former vampire hunter, Kaien was far from being a normal human. It had once been his job to notice little things such as body movements or twitches. However, feeling it wasn't his place to question her, the man just let it go.

"Of course I am confident in Kaname," once again his tone and face were serious.

"Ah, so it's a male then," Ashlen said and forced her body to relax. Even though this man was annoying immature, though seemed now serious, he must have been a hunter to even be able to have a school like this or perhaps ex-hunter. Ashlen then realized that he had phrased his response as if she had implied that she doubted his decision in Pureblood. She'd have to look into the Vampire.

"Yes. He's named Kaname Kuran. I'm sure you were told about what happened to their family...?"

Ashlen actually shook her head as she tiredly put her hand through her hair. "No, I haven't. We were only given a few hour notice of this mission." She left out the fact that she had bad history with Vampires in her past. That statement he had just made was even more incentive to research the Vampires that attend the school, she'd have to get the files from Stella. Tomorrow night, after her first day of classes she'd report to her captain, Kazan. It's important protocol in her Guild to report after the first day of work, that way the members back at headquarters are able to gouge the mission. It's also a way to make sure that the agents haven't died.

"I see..." Kaien decided not to say it. He had assumed that Rexdeal, the leader, would have given the agents files.

Not able to hold back her yawn, Ashlen glanced at the watch that rested on her wrist. It was nearly midnight in Japan. Back in Greece, it was only five pm and the sun would just be starting to go down beyond the mountains and plateaus. Yet, having returned from an earlier mission –a very taxing one at that –only a few days earlier –due to Stella's terrible condition, the Werewolf had been sent back to headquarters for immediate treatment -it made sense as to why she was tired. However, the tiredness in which she had right now would be a definite help for her to become used to the time zone.

Kaien noticed the teenaged girl yawn and stood up from his chair, resuming a carefree attitude and expression. "You look tired, Ashlen-chan. I'll go ahead and show you to your room. We'll be giving you one of your own since you're an agent and might need the extra space."

Noticing that the seriousness that had temperately filled the man was now gone, Ashlen simply nodded at him. "Thanks, the extra room would be really good. Back at home base I share with an annoying Werecat. It is only creatures like Stella that get their own room." A vein throbbed in her forehead as she recalled the girl.

"I wonder why that would be," Kaien mused, opening the door for Ashlen. He followed her out and then began to lead the way to the Sun Dorms. Even though he was an ex-hunter, he barely knew anything about other mythical beings. Unlike Vampires, everything else is very secretive.

Ashlen smirked a little and chuckled under her breath. "Well, while Werewolves aren't actually as dangerous as humans say they are, a lot of them can be a bit cranky when they are either A) woken up too early or B) annoyed by a hyper roommate that won't shut up and keeps running into walls for no apparent reason," Ashlen told him, smiling slightly before frowning as she thought of her own roommate –one who she basically just described in the above reasoning.

"I can only imagine. Vampires can be quite temperamental when they are woken up as well," Kaien explained, laughing a little as he thought of one Vampire in particular.

As Ashlen was led to the Sun Dorms, she took the time to glance at my surroundings. The young woman couldn't make out a lot though because, unlike Stellas, she couldn't see in the dark. Although she knew a spell that could let her see in the dark but that's reserved for mission purposes only. At times where Ashlen and Stella were sent on a night mission to spy on someone, or something, Ashlen would only then use the spell. She doesn't treat her magic like a child's toy and uses it when it's needed.

Still though, the school grounds are lit up enough for her to make out a few things here and there. The brunette noticed a courtyard that she passed, an outside eating area and a fountain with a large bird sitting out on the water which glowed with moonlight. It was a little too dark for her to really see the bird in detail but, by the shape of it, Ashlen would have to guess it was a swan. So far, Cross Academy seemed like a normal private school, no students outside and no Vampires in sight.

Upon passing large gate doors Kaien Cross, the Headmaster of this school, led her to the building on the left. Obviously the buildings were the different dorms. The one Ashlen was being lead to was for girls and the one on the right was for boys. The buildings themselves were three stories large and brick from what Ashlen could tell from the looks of it yet the color of the buildings was unseen by her in the dark.

Upon entering the Sun Dorms itself she stopped paying attention to her surroundings. Well sort of. She still kept my guard up but focused most of her attention on following Kaien to her room. While it was her mission to protect the humans from the Vampires in the Night Class, the girl can't be blamed for wanting to sleep. _Besides,_ she thought to herself, _I trust that Stella could handle things for tonight, for tomorrow I will start my real mission._

"Well," Kain said, taking out a key from one of his numerous pockets. He unlocked the door and opened it, greeting Ashlen with a cold breeze, "here's your room." He flipped on the light showing yellow walls, a bed, a dresser, and a closet. On the bed lay a black uniform with a short skirt and jacket, as well as an armband that resembled what Ashlen recognized as Yuki's. "That badge dignifies you as a prefect."

Walking into her new room for the next however many nights Ashlen had to admit she was actually very happy. At home-base they weren't allowed to have a carpet. Leader had band them, along with wooden floors, after he took command. He gave a stupid, it could cause a fire, reason to shut up everyone that dared complain or to keep them from complaining. However Ashlen's smile dropped as she spotted the uniform. A skirt -something she really hated in a secret mission. This one looked rather short to her as well -above the knees. Clearly the Headmaster needed to make longer skirts. Guys could see far too well up skirts this short.

"Are the skirts really this short?" Ashlen asked and lifted the skirt up to see it better.

"I'm sorry," Kaien said, sensing her discomfort, "this is a fanfiction based off of a shoujo manga after all."

"And if you don't give the reader a realistic reason we won't get paid," Ashlen told him, a small smirk on her face.

Kaien shook his head, "Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good rest. You'll have class early in the morning!" Kaien then walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Just as Ashlen was about to get ready for bed, a frantic beeping came from her communicator. It was a request for a holographic video call from Stella.

"So, how's it going on your end? Have you met the vampires yet?" Ashlen asked, sitting on her bed as a holographic came from her communicator.

Stella sighed, "Nope. I'm still in my room right now. I just thought that I should tell you something."

A frown found its way on Ashlen's face as she sat, legs crossed on her bed, and looked at her partner seriously. "Yes, is everything alright?"

Stella shook her head, "First of all, the dorms reek of leach, and I almost died when I gagged earlier -just ask Yuki. Anyways, if that's not bad enough, I'm worried about going to class. Not because I'm scared or anything, it's just that when I started coughing, my stitches loosened, so now I'm bleeding through three layers of bandages. I actually need to put on another layer. Plus, these uniforms are white. So, the blood will soak through and show."

"Damn it," Ashlen whispered and sighed deeply, taking her curly brown hair from its ponytail and running a hand through her the locks tiredly. "Do you need me to bring you a few of those potions?" She asked, already reaching in her bag to get the vials. She'd brought some just in case something like this had happened. Since she's the only one out of the two that can perform magic, Ashlen had made sure to bring extra potions for all kinds of things.

Stella smiled brightly, showing off her sharp incisors, "Yes please! That would be really helpful. If you want, I can go run and grab a few. Or you could just transport over here, I guess."

Ashlen shrugged and gripped three small bottles in her hand. "I was actually getting ready to go to bed when you called. I can try to transport the potion to you so neither of us has to go anywhere." She then came up with another alternative. "Or I can met you outside the Sun Dorms and just give you them there."

Stella thought for a moment. "I think just transporting them over here would be the easiest option, that way I won't irritate my wounds anymore."

Nodding Ashlen placed the communicator down gently on the bed and showed it the three bottles. Using the open window, she noticed a tree nearby and smiled. Ashlen was a rare witch that had powers over nature and could do nearly everything with it. Her powers we nearly fueled by the element so this should be easy. Mumbling the spell she had learned from headquarters –a spell that an old leader of the Research and Development Center had created to make transporting secret information and goods easier. The Research and Development Center had been shut down when Rexdeal had taken over, sending many witches out of work.

The bottles disappeared in a swirling blue and white light. Ashlen hoped that they had made it successfully to Stella.

Stella then went to her window and picked up the bottles from the windowsill. Sitting back down, the she-wolf said, "Thanks."

"Great," Ashlen grinned and held back a yawn. "Have a good first day." Her blue-gray eyes then widened in a sudden realization. "Oh, I was told there are between 50-60 vampires in the class." Ashlen told her this, seeing as how Stella hated Vampires and probably wouldn't know, even with the files. The were-girl had never been one to look ahead.

Stella made a disgusted face as she unwrapped the bandages from around her stomach, revealing bloody gashes in the form of claw marks. They were a little puffy around the edges, as if infected. Stella took one of the vials, a blue one and began to spread the liquid around the marks. "That's gross. I hate Vampires. Hopefully, the smell of the potions will blot out the smell of blood."

Leaning back on the bed in a rather lazy matter, Ashlen looked down at the communicator and nodded. "The potion should hid the scent of your blood. I pity you for having to live with them. At least you can protect yourself though."

She began to get herself comfortable even though she was still wearing her normal mission clothing. The witch didn't really care if she slept in her clothes for one night, it was no big deal and she was becoming too tired to change, anyways.

Stella nodded, rubbing the wounds and grimacing as she did so. "Yeah," smirking slightly, she raised a hand and changed her nails into sharp, lethal claws, "I got these babies."

Ashlen chuckled, however the sound transformed into a yawn. "Well, you have nothing to worry about then. Not only do I have to deal with the vampires but I have to deal with annoying, Japanese fangirls," she said, groaning.

Stella stuck out her tongue. "Ew. Fangirls," she sighed, then put the cork back into the vial before opening and beginning to apply the purple one. "You want to know something? I don't know why, but I keep getting the strangest sense of foreboding."

Ashlen's nostrils flared in worry, "Foreboding?"

"Yeah," Stella said, "it's as if… something bad is going to happen. I don't know why, but I can smell danger in the air. It's kind of like the same feeling I get when a storm's about to break loose, not just a small one, but a large one, like a cyclone or a tsunami. I feel like I need to take cover."

"How strange," Ashlen , she tiredly rubbed the back of her neck. "I wish I could sense these things." She said and chuckled. "Just think of what Leader would do to me if he heard me say that."

Stella chuckled, "He'd flap his wings angrily at you."

The witch chuckled some more. "Yeah, or he might fire me."

"I highly doubt that," Stella said, shaking her head as she set the purple vile back down. "We're the best agents in the Elite -and the most experienced along with Melody. Suzuki probably would be with us, but he went AWOL and decided to live his dream of being a pirate."

Sighing Ashlen lay on her stomach so she could continue looking at her communicator but get ready to sleep at the same time. "Sometimes I wish I could just quiet. I mean, I like protecting people and all but a freer life sounds nice. I mean this room actually has carpet floors. The only stone floors are outside."

Stella sighed dreamily as well, beginning to rewrap her abdomen with fresh bandages, "Yeah. It's so nice here. It's like a mansion. Also, there's a closet instead of just one trunk, and a dresser too. I've actually never had something that big to hold my stuff in. The largest space would have to be the chest back in our Elite houses."

Ashlen nodded in agreement as she crossed her arms under her head and placed her chin on them. "Yes, I know. This is definitely the plus side to this mission. You know, I really hope someone kills that damned pixie someday. Hell, his daughter would make a better leader than him."

"I know!" Stella exclaimed, her hazel-green eyes wide, "Ganem's awesome -even if she doesn't actually do anything."

Ashlen nodded before glancing at her watch again. "So you should be heading to class by now and I should be going to sleep. I'll likely be getting up around seven in the morning. One of the down sides of being spies in a school; we have to actually attend that school." Ashlen groaned again as she once again glanced at her school uniform.

Stella laughed, "I know. We already have learned the stuff that we're probably going to end up being taught. Plus, it means we actually have to work. Oh well, at least we aren't fighting a Wendigo."

Ashlen nodded in agreement but still sighed. "Still it's going to suck balancing actually school work with our mission. It's not like we haven't done it before but those missions usually only lasted a few days."

"True. Don't you think it's weird that Rexdeal didn't give us a return time? Normally it's "Get back in three weeks" you know? But he never said anything."

"Yes, but he also never gave us a longer notice about the mission," Ashlen pointed out and frowned, this time in confusion. "Do you think he is planning something or just being a jerk?"

Stella shrugged, "I don't know. He's probably just being a bitch. What I assume he's going to do is say, when we get back, that we either came back too early or too late and didn't perform our mission correctly -then send us on an even longer, boring mission as punishment. Kind of like what happened right before Suzuki left six years ago."

"Oh, he better not –I mean it! -If he does I am going to join the rebellion against him," Ashlen groaned and angrily tapped her fingers on her arm, mouth drawing into a deep frown. She and Stella had always had a deep mistrust of their newest leader.

Stella snorted. "What rebellion? You mean the ones that have been terminated? He's killed everyone who's gone against him, and since pixies are have really freaking long life spans, he'll just keep doing it. I'd have been long gone by now if I could have, and you know that."

Ashlen scoffed and rolled her eyes, groaning. She knew that the stupid Pixie would continue being leader past the day she died. Everyone that went against him was killed. A lot of members, including Ashlen herself, believed that Rexdeal was actually evil. Hell, it was believed he sent certain members on difficult missions just to die. He was a son of a bastard for sure.

"Yeah I know but, perhaps if we got a big enough group together and all attacked at the same time we can be finally rid of him," Ashlen said hopefully as she rubbed her eyes. Suddenly, before Stellas could reply, a voice was heard in the distance.

"Stella-san, is everything alright?" Yuki called from somewhere downstairs in the Moon Dorms. Stella anxiously sniffed the air, to gouge her location, and then her body relaxed slightly –but still kept a guarded edge. Yuki wasn't near, Ashlen could tell by Stella's body language.

Stella quickly pulled on her uniform shirt, jacket, skirt, socks and shoes. "Um, yeah. I'm just having trouble with the... buttons. Werewolves don't use them -they make Shifting hard."

"Alright. Please hurry as fast as you can. Class will be over in a few hours," Yuki called again before going quiet. Ashlen chuckled at her partner.

"We might as well sign out anyways. I need to go to sleep so I can wake up in a few hours myself," she said with yet another sleepy yawn.

"Ok," Stella called to Yuki before lowering her voice, "Yeah, alright. I have to start my part of the mission as well. Have a good sleep. I'll talk to you later."

Saying good bye and good luck, Ashlen shut off her communicator. Still lying on her stomach, the Witch debated if she should get up or just sleep like that. In the end of the debate, Ashlen simply reached for a pillow and slept as she was, not even bothering to change out of her comfortable, moveable, mission clothes.

* * *

**I hope you've liked the rewrite so far. I totally recommend continuing on this one. Yes, I know, for those of you how read my first one, it'll be slow, but trust me, this one is by far better and will make a hell of a lot more sense. **

**If you review... BLESS YOUR FACE. **

**And if you have sneezed at any point while reading this, bless you too.**

**Peace off!**


	4. Chapter 3: Into the Thick of It

After hanging up with Ashlen and hiding the potions to keep them from any prying Vampires, she quickly buttoned her jacket and ran back downstairs, grimacing slightly at the stinging in her abdomen. It was easy for Stella to find her way; her scent trail was still strong. Even though it wasn't fresh, she'd waited too long so she could contact Ashlen and receive the potions, a Werewolf's sense of smell is better than a regular wolf's. She turned a corner, causing a pull in her still weak stiches. She breathed in through clenched teeth, face pale with anguish. While the potions stopped the bleeding, it was terribly painful. She smoothed out her facial expression into one of calm maturity -a mask that all the Elite agents had to perfect -and tapped Yuki on the shoulder.

As a Werewolf, she had natural stealth -a trait that came in handy when tracking and destroying Vampires, however, with that stealth comes an equal amount of paranoia. It's a horrible thing -yet only a small portion of why Werewolves have the highest suicide rate than any other mythical creature. Other factors go into their feelings and suicide rate; however, it's not a subject to be discussed lightly.

"I'm ready," Stella said, running a hand through her hair as her body automatically tensed up in anticipation of being in a room of 50-60 Vampires. She wasn't scared about being killed -oh no.

Stella was worried that, especially on a full moon, her collar -something all Were's had since it keeps a firm lock on their inner wolves -may continue to malfunction as it had been ever since a previous mission where the hoard of Basilisks she, Ashlen, and Melody had been destroying, broke it. Luckily though, Stella has a strong sense of self control when it comes to her inner wolf. She had to have one, or she would have been killed.

Having been waiting for what felt like a few hours, Yuki was actually startled when she felt the tap on her. Spinning around to see Stella standing there, she smiled in embarrassment.

"Oh, Stella-san, you scared me," she said, giggling softly. Then, nodding, Yuki stood and started to walk out the doors. "Alright, follow me."

Stella smirked from behind her, while Yuki was only a strange smelling human girl it was always an unintended compliment when a Werewolf scared someone with a quiet, unnoticed appearance. In the Packs, instead of playing games like Hide and Go Seek, they played "_Let's scare the crap out of each other_" and "_Let's see who can be stealthiest_". While those aren't the traditional names, it was what all the cool pups called it.

Stella followed Yuki out of the dorms and down the stone path. Once again, the burning feeling seized her once she became immersed in the moonlight. It makes her strain her ears, and forces her mind out of its normal range, wanting to find her Alpha's voice -even though it was so far away, back in Greece. The smell of Vampire caused her inner wolf a lusting for vicious carnage.

It's in her makeup.

It's in her instincts.

And it drives her insane.

A load of bile rose in her throat as she thought: _That idiot Rexdeal! This is why I shouldn't be sent on missions where I must go covert and Vampires are around! I'll only lose control, and he knows about my collar! I already want to rip their throats out and devour them –and I haven't even met the Night Class yet!_

As Yuki lead Stella to the school she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She knew very little about real Werewolves and all she knew was rumors or human made facts. One of the most common was that Werewolves are forced to retain a wolf form in the full moon and eat humans. Seeing that the full moon was out tonight, Yuki cast Stella a nervous look. The Werewolf looked uneasy, nervous even.

…Maybe even a little mad. It made Yuki feel uneasy.

"Stella-san, are you feeling alright?"

Stella cast Yuki a look, it was dagger-like and predatory. It is the look carnivorous animals gave their prey in the videos Yuki's science teacher had made the class watch. Yuki gasped slightly, Stella eyes seemed like a wild huntress. As soon as it came, it evened out into a humanlike pallor. Even though it didn't send a sign of danger, it still retained a sharpness that seemed to take in all its surroundings. Yuki noticed that whenever Stella looked directly at her, she felt disambiguated. It was like the Werewolf could see into her soul and it made Yuki feel self-conscious. It was like Stella was able to pick out all of her flaws, without even looking for too long –a single glance, and she could see them all –at least that's what it seemed like to Yuki.

"Of course I'm fine," she tried to brush off Yuki's concern, but, despite herself, cast a wary glance at the moon above her. She inwardly pondered to herself, something she'd always mused on as a child. With the moon's ever increasing brightness, the darker and more evil she became. It was strange, as if only one brightness could enlighten the night –and it couldn't be both.

Yuki flinched and her fear grew a bit. She was scared now, and didn't want to anger the older girl. After all she had dealt with scary and angry vampires before but never had she dealt with a werewolf. She didn't know the first thing to do if it happened. Would her Artemis Rod even work?

"Um, well, please just follow me into the school," she said and entered the school, where the moon light disappeared from above, now it only shone through the windows.

As soon as Stella hit shadow, the burning left her, but she was still tortured due to the overwhelming scent of bloody posies. It burned in her nasal passages and made her inner wolf whimper, causing annoying grumbling to begin in her mind.

"The Night Class is using the class room over here tonight," Yuki announced, her body relaxing slightly now that the moon light was limited. She continued to lead Stella down the hall, twisting and turning down a few hallways, before reaching a wooden door.

Stella didn't need to be told because the scent was in a stronger concentration where Yuki was leading her, but she held her tongue. "Alright."

"I won't be joining you from this point. Kaname-Sama and Ichijou-Sempai were both told a head of time you were coming. Please try to be nice," Yuki said before she turned to leave.

Strangely, Stella didn't wish for the younger girl to go. The Werewolf bit her lip, then said, "Ok, thank you for taking me this far. I'll try not to be too rude -But I make no promises."

Yuki found herself smiling as she turned her head back to Stella. "Just have fun. Some of the vampires are very nice. I'm sure you'll make friends. Bye." Yuki then wished Stella good luck before walking away.

Stella nodded, placed her hand on the door knob, "Thanks, again." She said this even though she knew that Yuki wouldn't be able to hear. Letting out a harsh breath, she closed her fingers around the knob, but couldn't bring herself to turn it. All of her instincts told her to gather a platoon of her kinsmen. It was as if they had come upon a Coven-Home within their territory. Her inner wolf anxiously awaited orders to attack, to leap and begin slaughter. She shook her head, even without being in direct contact with moonlight, the full moon's influence weighed heavy on her shoulders.

Her inner wolf wanted to run. She placed her other hand on the knob, to steady herself and bring her back to reality before she accidentally began to shift. She'd really need to fix her collar. She breathed in deeply through her mouth and out her nose a few times, not even daring to breath the opposite -the overwhelming stench of Vampire might make her gag -to try and calm herself down further.

She thought of relaxing images, forests, brooks, streams, rivers. She thought of her Pack back in Greece on Mt. Parnitha and the surrounding summits and peaks. A few years ago, there had been a terrible fire, but luckily, her Pack had been able to stay with the Xionothyella, another Pack that was led by a kind, generous and peaceful Alpha named Pyramus.

Once, again she cleared her mind and turned the handle slowly, pushing the door open hesitantly. Her stomach dropped as she stepped through and felt numerous pairs of eyes fall onto her figure as the talking ceased.

It was a typical night for the Night Class. The teacher had left a few hours earlier so the Vampires were free to do as they wished. School for the Night Class could get pretty boring. The whole reason they were at the academy in the first place was because their families believed peace between Vampires and humans was possible. Half of the Night Class, however, was only there because Kaname Kuran, the pureblood, was there.

Still, to pass up most of the time, Kaien had assigned teachers and work for the Vampires to do. Yet most of the time the teachers usually talked about how the Night Class is the pride of the Vampire world because they are the first to test the newest blood tablets. All in all, though, for the Vampires, school is like how it is for humans; boring and seemingly not worth the time. Unless, of course, you were someone like Takuma Ichijou who enjoyed the time in school.

Things seemed to take an interesting turn when the Vampires picked up an odd smell. It had been getting closer to the class room for the past few minutes. The Night Class could hear the prefect, Yuki, talking to what sounded like a girl. A new student maybe? Had Takuma and Kaname forgot to mention one? Questions were soon answered when the door handle jiggled and finally opened, showing a seventeen year old girl with copper colored hair and hazel-green eyes wearing a Night Class uniform. However something was completely off about her, yet, none of them could place it. Maybe it was the way that she held herself, with a wild grace, completely different from the naturally dignified stance that the Vampires used. Maybe it was the way her eyes darted around the room, looking critically at each of their faces, body tensed as ready to defend herself from an attack. Maybe it was the way, when her nose sniffed, her eyes seemed to flicker from hazel-green to a deep, molten gold.

"Since when has Cross been letting werewolves in the school?" A boy with messy blond hair and blue eyes demanded. His name, Aido Hanabusa.

Stella's eyes widened, she hadn't known that they'd recognize her scent. While it was different from Vampires, usually the ones the she fought -whether they were Level-E's or nobles who fell to the dark-side -none of them had ever known what her scent indicated.

"Since he decided that Werewolves should also be let in to the "peace for everyone" charade you Vampires are putting on."

"Aido, be nice now. Ms. Marris is our newest student. Headmaster Cross thought that, since Werewolves are misunderstood creatures, it would be good to have one in the Night Class," another blond vampire, though with green eyes, happily scolded Aido. Aido crossed his arms and rolled his eyes as the green eyed vampire then looked over to Stella.

"Welcome to the Night Class, Marris-Chan. I am the vice president of the Moon Dorms, Takuma Ichijou. If you ever need help with anything, or a question answered, please feel free to ask," the vampire said happily, obviously ignoring the charade insult.

Stella raised an eyebrow. Vice presidents were a foreign concept to her. Even in Slayers United, each faction had only one captain -yet they all reported to Rexdeal. And, her instinctual feelings told her that there could only ever be one Alpha -not two. She nodded and turned her hazel eyes to look at the Vampire.

"Thank you," she said, "But yes. I'm the Lykánthro̱pos, or, in your language, Lycanthrope, representative. I'm from the Pack Protasia."

"Yes, the Headmaster made sure to tell Kaname and myself about your arrival," He responded, the smile on his face never failing. Towards the announcement of his name, Kaname placed the book he had been reading down and looked at the new girl.

"Welcome, Stella Marris. You've made it to Cross safely I see. No trouble?"

Stella shook her head at the pureblood, "None that should concern you. I take it you're the president then?"

Ignoring the rude tone in the young Werewolf's voice, Kaname simply nodded. "It seems the class has been rather rude tonight. I think it would be best if everyone starts introducing themselves," Kaname stated before looking at Stella gracefully, "I am Kaname Kuran, president of the Moon Dorms and Night Class."

Takuma said next, more willing to be kind than the rest of the Vampires, "I'm Ichijou Takuma, Vice President of the Moon Dorms and Night Class, but I already told you that.

Stella nodded at the both of them. To keep her cover, she'd have to fake respect.

"Kain Akatsuki. The idiot over there is my cousin, Aido Hanabusa," the tall red headed vampire said before motioning to the vampire that had earlier rudely questioned Stella being at the school.

Hanabusa looked at his cousin, aghast, "I can introduce myself!"

Akatsuki rolled his eyes, "Obviously not."

Before Hanabusa could reply, another, smaller boned red headed Vampire said, "I'm Shiki Senri."

"Toya Rima," the female vampire sitting next to Shiki said. Anyone that didn't really know the two would think the two vampires were dating. Stella's eyes grazed over the two, her eyebrow still quirked up and arms crossed over her chest in a defensive position.

A long haired girl sighed, "Souen Ruka."

It seemed to take a full hour, if not more, for all vampires to introduce themselves. Ashlen hadn't been lying when she warned Stella there was between 50-60 vampires. Stella had actually paid more attention to the number of vampires rather than their actually names. She counted 57 vampires in all, most of with were aristocrats by the smell of it. Only a small fraction were C-Level which ranged from half breeds to the children of Level-Ds. However, there were no real Level-Ds present, even though Zero, the prefect, was one. It confused Stella that Kaien Cross would make a Level-D with a high potential to turn into a Level-E the person who'd protect the humans. It seemed like poor planning to her.

She nodded when the introductions ended. "I'm Stella Marris, a Werewolf. I'm Protasian -that's my Pack -and I'm from Mt. Parnitha which is located in Greece, close to Athens. I came because the Council of Elders decided that -since Werewolves are philanthropic and protect humans and all, even if we're hated and mistreated by them -we should strive for peace. They were going to try and open a school like this one, but in Greece, then, however, they found out about Cross Academy and decided that they'd send a representative here. Why not kill two birds with one stone, right?"

There was a bunch of hmms, and ahs from the vampires in the class. However it seemed that no one actually cared. Either it be because the fact they were all vampires and Stella was a werewolf or they were all bored teenagers that didn't care was tricky to know. However there were a couple vampires that showed mild interest and one that showed actually.

"To start a school like this isn't easy. Kaien Cross managed because he had once been a hunter, one of the actually. At least that is what my grandfather told me. He was only allowed to make this school because he is trusted. If your pack wants to build a school like this, you need to find a few people that know the truth about werewolves and are willing to help you," Takuma told Stella, smiling every second as he did. A few vampires rolled their eyes before going back to whatever they had been doing before Stella had entered.

"There is still an hour left of class. You might as well sit down," Kaname, who had gotten back into his book, spoke up.

Stella nodded, not smiling back at Takuma. "Ok." She then let her eyelids flicker close as she took a deep breath through her nose, coughing slightly. She picked through the scents then decided that Takuma smelled the best -less like blood, more like posies with a faint hint of almond -and walked up to sit beside him. She plopped down into the seat and stared out the window at the moon.

"So, are you enjoying your time at Cross Academy so far?" Takuma asked happily. He was glad the new girl chose to sit next to him. Even though his grandfather had told him time after time about how evil werewolves were he didn't believe him and wanted to befriend the new girl.

"Well I haven't really done anything so far. I kind of just got here," she answered, her answer mumbled. Something about him compelled her.

"Hmm," Takuma hummed before sniffing her. "Are you wearing perfume?" he questioned, having smelt the potions Ashlen had given Stella to help her heal. While the sniffing thing would have freaked out any normal person, it's a regular thing in her culture –Lycanthrope culture, not the regular Greek.

Stella's face pinked slightly at the question and she looked down, muttering out, "No..." Still though, it made her blush.

"Really?" He asked, surprised. "Well whatever you are wearing, you smell nice," he complemented her, playfully flirting.

Her eyebrow twitched slightly at the remark. She really hoped he wasn't one of _those_ kinds of guys. "Um... thanks, I guess."

Smiling playfully, Takuma chuckled slightly. He then noticed the collar around her neck. "What's that collar for?"

_So, he's observant, huh?_ Stella thought to herself while putting a hand against the soft black fabric. "It's just a tool."

"Oh? What does it do?" Takuma asked as he reached out and touched the collar with the tips of his slender fingers.

Stella jerked back slightly, a panic seizing up her throat at the sudden movement towards her. A whimper escaped her lips.

Pulling his hand back, Takuma smiled at Stella gently as he placed his arm back on the desk. "It's alright, I won't hurt you. I was just wanted to look."

Stella shook her head but stayed farther away from him. "I don't like being touched." The common answer that she always gave. Her heart rate evened out to its normal pace -even though, to anyone that could hear, it'd sound like it was racing. Her heart -along with every other Werewolf -beat at the same speed as a wolf's.

Takuma could indeed hear the werewolf girl's heartbeat. It was going oddly fast, but then again he never heard the heartbeat of a werewolf before. "Alright, I'm sorry. I won't touch you again. That is unless you say I can," he said with a small grin replacing his smile.

Stella nodded tersely, still tense, "Thank you. Anyways, you wanted to know about my collar, correct?" she assumed that since it was just about Lycanthropy instead of her job, it'd be safe to answer -at least mostly.

"Yeah, if that would be ok with you," Takuma said, turning his attention back to you. Unlike the others he actually seemed interested in the fact you were a werewolf, a creature most young vampires are taught to hate.

She sighed a bit before saying, "All Werewolves have one. It's basically a way for us to control our inner wolves when in the presence of peaceful Vampires."

Takuma couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "Oh yes, now if only vampires had something like that, hmm?" He asked teasingly before calming down. "So if you weren't wearing that, you'd kill me?"

She shrugged, "Possibly." She didn't mention the fact that she's mostly controlling it on her own, due to the fact that hers only works partially.

"Oh really? Thanks, now I know not to take it on you," he said playfully, winking.

She rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't let you anyways." She held out her hand in front of his face and easily shifted her nails into sharp claws. "I have these."

Looking at the claws, Takuma wasn't even fazed. "Oh, nice claws. Maybe later I'll show you my sword."

Inside her mind, voices that had been mostly silent began to speak.

One that has a husky and dark voice laughed perversely, then said, **"I'd like to see that."**

Another one with a light innocent air said,** "Temptation! No!" **

Stella sighed. She thought she might have a night away from her annoying inner voices.

**"Why does a vampire have a sword in the first place?" **Oblivious asked.

**"Why do we even care?" **Logic asked, not understanding how it would affect them.

**"Heheh, I bet it will be shiny and sharp," **interjected Violence with an evil look in her eye.

Stella's eye twitched before she hit herself in the cheek -a little harder than necessary -and said, "I'd enjoy that."

His smile now replaced by a look of confusion, Takuma blinked and stared at Stella for a moment. "Why did you just hit yourself?"

"No reason," she said, "I thought I felt a... mosquito on my cheek, that's all."

"Oh really? I thought those bugs hated blood like ours. At least I know they hate vampire blood," he said thoughtfully before grinning at you friendly

"Ichijou-San, isn't it a little too early to be flirting with the new girl," the ginger haired young vampire, Senri, pointed out. Takuma looked over the younger vampire, laughing and rubbing the back of his neck.

"I am just being friendly, Senri."

Stella blushed and rubbed the back of her neck while she said to her fellow ginger, "Well, I'm a Werewolf, so... I don't think it'd work out anyways..."

Senri lazily shrugged as he ate a stick of chocolate. "Human and vampires tend to get together so why can't werewolves? They just need to be trained to not attack their mate," He said this bluntly and lazily.

"Senri," Rima told him, her eyes narrowed only slightly before looking at Stella. "Just ignore him. He sometimes says stupid things."

She shook her head, "It's fine. I don't expect your kind to know anything about mine."

"I'd actually like to know more. Do you think you can give me privet lessons?" Takuma asked as he leaned towards Stella playfully. Hearing all of this, Kaname again lowered his book

"Takuma, leave the young werewolf alone. She just got here so it is likely she just wants to relax," he told him. Takuma laughed nervously again before leaning back

"Yes, Kaname. Sorry, Stella-Chan," he said in slight embarrassment.

"Thank you," Stella said to the pureblood. "But I'm fine, really."

Kaname nodded as he then looked at the clock on the wall. "It seems it's just about time to go back to the dorms."

A worried shadow appeared on Stella's face at the thought of entering the moonlight with a bunch of Vampires. Her collar was broken, and she didn't know if she had enough willpower to keep herself from releasing her inner wolf and attacking the Vampires with intense bloodlust. She bit her bottom lip and focused her eyes at a spot on the table in front of her, eyebrows furrowed as she felt it growl, low and deep with malice inside her. She frowned, and her eyes flickered to an iridescent, molten gold. She felt an urge to pant, mind wanting an order from her Alpha, before she shook her head, like a dog, and her eyes become hazel-green once more as she forced her human side to overrule the wild wolf.

Noticing the look on Stella's face change, Takuma raised an eyebrow and looked at her thoughtfully. Quickly glancing out the window to see the full moon he understood what was going on. Well at least he had an idea what was wrong. "Stella-chan, are you alright?"

She nodded uncertainly then stood up, causing the rest of the vampires to look at her, "Um, Kaname-san, I was wondering if maybe I could head back early?"

Finding nothing really wrong with it, and thinking it might for the best, he nodded. "I suppose it will be alright. I trust you already found your dorm room if you are wearing your uniform," he said and stood up.

"Yes," Stella said, walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Feeling an instant distrust for the new werewolf student, Aido snuck out of class as soon as she left. He was suspicious of the werewolf girl and would not let the risk anyone getting hurt because of her. He might get in a lot of trouble for this later but it would be worth it in the end. Seeing Stella walking down the hall Aido attempted to keep a distance away from the werewolf girl. Hopefully she wouldn't see him coming if he stayed far enough away.

A scent, Vampire, washed over Stella's sensitive nostrils as the air conditioning came on. She paused slightly, her nose smelling the air delicately. Yes, she thought, a Vampire is following me. With that thought in mind, she walked faster, not wanting to irritate the stitches in her abdomen.

_Damn it,_ Aido thought as the werewolf girl walked faster, _she must have smelled me,_ he added and frowned. No matter, all he had to do was pick up the pace. Aido was skilled in killing Level-Es, so how hard should it be protecting himself against an angry werewolf, which would likely happen if she confronted him?

All that Stella could focus on was getting away from him, having him loose her trail before she hit the moonlight, and, undoubtedly, her inner wolf comes forth from within her. She went faster, sharpened ears picking up his quickening footsteps.

_Come on, don't run from me._ Aido thought as he continued to follow, only at a faster pace to catch up. However it was starting to get harder to catch up and keep her in his sights. He picked up his speed another notch, attempting to keep Stella in his view.

They reached the front doors and she threw them open in an attempt to flee, however, she stopped, stiff as a gentle waft of silver light soaked her. Groaning she clutched her head in her hands, breathing heavily as if something pained her. The burning in her grew and her sharp incisors elongated, protruding from her mouth, her nails became long, lethal claws, and her eyes became a gleaming gold. Before the transformation could completely occur, she spun around on her heel and fixed a panicked gaze on Aido.

"Go away now," she commanded before screeching as her collar fell simultaneously with Aido's forward step, "Don't follow me!" and she turned around, running off of the sidewalk path into the woods. The last glimpse he saw of her was a long, bushy tail and a copper colored wolf's back legs.

**Review! They are loved.**


	5. Chapter 4: Into the Frying Pan

It had happened so fast, one second, Stella was standing there, human –mostly –and then, she was a wolf, bolting into the dark woods.

Startled at seeing an actually werewolf transformation, Aido did not follow any further. Instead he stood on the school steps and watched as she ran into the forest. Now what should he do? Should he follow her to make sure Yuki and Zero don't find her or go back to Kaname and risk punishment. Not in the mood to deal with the prefects he decided to risk punishment from Kaname and walked back in the school.

Aido came back into the room and could feel Kaname's cold stare. "I-I'm sorry, Kaname-sama," Aido said, bowing his head. "I was only trying to make sure that Stella made it back to the dorms alright."

"And did she?"

Aido's blue eyes widened, "Well, no, she-"

Kaname, at hearing the news, let out a sigh and placed his book down, this time for the last time this night.

"She ran off, didn't she?" It was more of a statement rather than a question.

Aido nodded, "Yes sir. She transformed into a wolf and then ran into the woods."

"Very well, thank you for reporting but next time I suggest you leave her alone. She may have returned to the Moon Dorms if you didn't follow her," he ordered before looking at the Night Class. "Stella Marris has lost control of her Wolf Form. Everyone keep your guard up and stay in groups when returning to the Dorms."

The Vampires filed out of the classroom, muttering to themselves under their breath. Why did she transform? How could Headmaster Cross allow a werewolf to come to the academy? What did this mean for them? Was it even safe? These thoughts were found in every conversation as they stayed in close knit groups, nervousness and slight fear wafting into the trees.

Upon leaving the school, everyone followed Kaname's order by walking to the Dorms in groups of three and four. However, as Kaname was walking back with Takuma, Ruka, Shiki, Aido, Rima and Akatsuki, he turned to look at the forest. Never before had he dealt with a werewolf, or a Lykánthro̱pos, before. He needed a way to get her back in her human form to protect the others in the Night Class.

He then recalled how the werewolf willingly sat next to Takuma, perhaps because of the lack a more Vampiric smell. That gave him an idea. "Takuma, please go get Stella. I believe there is something about you she might trust and she might just listen to you. I think you may be able to convince her to go back to the Dorms."

Takuma looked at Kaname sharply, "What?"

"She sat beside you willingly. I would have thought she'd sit as far from us as possible. If it makes you feel better, you can get your sword." Kaname said, a very thin smile on his face. The pureblood was secretly enjoying this.

Takuma nodded, "Alright, sir. Allow me to get my sword."

Kaname nodded back in understanding. "Very well, Takuma."

Takuma then ran into the Moon Dorms to retrieve his sword. After grabbing it, he went outside and into the woods. Kaname had probably gone to warn Kaien what happened and that he was allowing the Vice President to handle it. Takuma stood in front of the dark, shadowy woods, every rustle of leaves possibly being a compromised werewolf.

Takuma walked slowly and carefully through the school's woods. He used his Vampiric instincts to locate Stella. She could be everywhere. He kept his sword out, just for safety measures. Hearing a snap to his left, Takuma lifted his sword higher just in case he was about to be attacked. "Stella, is that you?" He called out nervously.

Takuma saw what he thought was a flash of orange fur before it disappeared. He headed toward it, only to jerk around as he heard a slight paw step behind him. Nothing. He shifted his hands on his sword, sweat beginning to form on his brow with adrenaline. His instincts told him to run, that he was being hunted. Fear wafted off of him into the surrounding branches.

_Calm down, Takuma, you can do this, Kaname's counting on you,_ Takuma thought to himself, sweat going down his back. "Stella, I know you're out there. Please don't hurt me." He called out once again. It was so hard for him not to run, like how his whole body was telling him to.

Another flash of... of something that Takuma couldn't identify went through the trees, but as soon as he looked to where it was, it was gone, just like that. It was as if Stella was playing a game with him. A game of cat and mouse. He let out a shuddering breath.

She was taunting him.

_This isn't good, not good at all,_ Takuma thought as he closed his eyes, gulping fearfully. Lowering his sword so the pointed end to the ground, Takuma refused to play this game. Maybe if Stella didn't feel threatened she would stop playing this little game. A soft breeze filtered through the trees, and he faintly heard something move downwind of him. His eyes snapped open. He'd read enough about animals in his younger years to know that moving downwind of prey is a key component to keep them from locating the predator's scent.

Takuma was in trouble, he was in deep trouble. If he didn't act soon he was going to be more than just in trouble; he was going to be ether hurt or killed. That is if he didn't kill her first with his sword. "Stella, you need to calm down, it's time to go home." As there was no real way to fight a werewolf without someone ending up hurt or killed he could only hope he could talk her out of it. Kaname said she seemed to trust him but it seemed he was wrong.

Slowly, he turned around to face her location, his eyes meeting gleaming gold ones, glowing from the shadows. "I see you," he said, staring into her wolfish eyes. "Come on out, Stella."

A growl came from her throat as she bunched her muscles, ready to leap at the Vampire. She put a tentative paw forward.

"Don't even think about it, Stella," Takuma threatened as he lifted his sword threateningly. "I don't want to have to hurt you."

She prowled out into the clearing, the pale moon's light making her fur have a grayish tent. She stalked forward. Takuma noticed that she's larger than normal wolves, her height, in a guestimate around 5 and half feet. She bared her sharp teeth at him, going forward before circling around him, snapping her mouth to intimidate the Vampire.

Takuma flinched as he was snapped at. Never before had he dealt with anything like this. He had dealt with many Level-Es but never a creature that looked ready to eat him. Of course Stella was the first werewolf he had ever met. He was just scared that his grandfather had been telling the truth the whole time. He hated the thought of his grandfather being right and he wanted werewolves to be more than what humans and older vampires say they are –monsters.

"Stella, please calm yourself. I am not your food."

Just then, she pounced, too fast for Takuma to react and knocked the sword away from him. She pinned him down by the shoulders, bringing her muzzle close to his as she panted a gleam in her eye. Takuma reached in vain for the sword, his face turned away as a dead panic came across him. Then, he realized that she wasn't eating him. He turned to look at her and saw her lower her nose to him and nudge at the side of his face with a wet nose. Then, she licked his cheek.

Even though Takuma was scared to death he found himself laughing nervously. "Come on, Stella. Can't you wait until you're human again until our first kiss?" he joked nervously.

She let out a yip and licked his face again. Her haunches rose and her tail wagged incessantly. She yipped again.

Now confusion taking over his fear, Takuma found himself lying on his back, face wet with saliva. Was Stella... licking him like a dog? Did she actually remember him? Oh dear god, Takuma felt his heart drop before starting to beat a little more steady. "Um, good girl?" He asked with another nervous laugh.

A look of offense came over Stella's face at the degrading sentence. She let out a huff of air and turned her nose up in the air, her tail rigid behind her.

Takuma laughed a little more at the look he got out of the Were-Stella. It was rather cute, almost like an annoyed and embarrassed child. "Stella, can you please get off of me? It's time to return to the dorms."

Stella shook her head and backed up slightly, allowing him to sit up before she lies down, head resting on his lap. Her tail wagged against the ground.

Now able to sit up but not able to stand up, Takuma looked down at the young werewolf. It seems Kaname had been right all along. Stella really did trust him. So much so that she was lying in his lap and wagging her tail. "You know you really had me scared back there," he told her as he slowly went to touch her head. He hesitated though and waited until he got permission. Stella looked warily at his hand and growled slightly at the intruding appendage.

"Ah, never mind then," Takuma said as he then pulled away his hand. "However we really should get back to the dorms. I know a secret way into the building. You won't have to see any other vampire."

Stella whimpered.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe, I promise." Takuma said and was once again tempted to pat Stella on the head.

Stella sighed and looked at him through woeful golden eyes before whimpering a little more.

"It's alright, Stella, no one will harm you." Takuma said kept himself from touching her, in his respect to keep Stella's wishes to not be touched. He did start wiggling his legs though. Stella whined but lifted her head anyways, staring at him in the eyes as if to say _"I refuse to go anywhere"._

"Come on, do you want the humans to find you in the morning? Trust me, your human side will be happy if she wakes up inside rather than naked in the middle of the forest." He told her teasingly. Stella didn't look like she was wearing her clothes but Takuma didn't know they had magically disappeared into her collar.

Stella rolled her eyes but stood anyways, shaking out her fur and stretching.

"So are you coming?" Takuma asked as he got his sword from where it had fallen on the ground.

Stella seemed to weigh her options before nodding. She walked up to him and stood by his side, her head coming up to his shoulder.

Takuma smiled at the werewolf and nodded his head to the side. "Well then, follow me. I'll take you in the secret way."

Stella followed dutifully after him, moving quietly, like a ghost, through the forest. If Takuma didn't know she was there, he'd never even guess. He couldn't hear her footsteps whatsoever, it was completely silent. He inwardly shivered as it came clicking together in his mind why werewolves were able to so easily dispatch vampires. The vampires didn't even know they were there until it was too late.

Takuma lead Stella back to the Moon Dorms in silence. Yuki and Zero should have got to bed by this time, as class was over and there was no reason to patrol anymore. However that only gave him a couple hours until the sun rose and all the humans woke up. Not that it would take a few hours to walk to the Moon Dorms. Still, the sooner they got back the better. Takuma would still have to help Stella in her dorm room without anyone else noticing. He'd use a window for that. Hopefully everyone was in their dorms at this point. He couldn't risk Stella killing anyone on her first day here.

Stella's head whipped to the side as she picked up a scent. She stopped abruptly and her head lashed around. Then she was still, nose to the ground as she sniffed deeply. Then, without a warning, she was off.

"Stella!" Takuma called out, shocked and a bit frightened to see her go like that. "No, come back!" he cried and ran after her.

She continued running, her leaping bounds pulling at her stitches, causing her pain. She shook it out, not giving up the chase. Her nose never betrayed her. She smelled a vampire. Then, without warning, a large log littered her path, bunching her muscles she leaped, only to tear the stitches and the new, potion made membrane, causing herself to bleed. She let out a piercing cry of pain as she hit the ground, hard, she wailed then howled and lay there, whimpering with pain.

Snarling, the dog that had blocked Stella didn't move. It just sat there and snarled warningly. Then, out of the shadows, stepped Kaname. The dog that had been watching Stella slowly turned into a thick black fog kind of thing and melted into Kaname's jacket. For the dog wasn't a real dog and just the result of pureblood vampire magic. "I figured you might need some help, Takuma."

Takuma came around the corner warily and his eyes widened when he saw Stella lying there, blood seeping from her stomach. "Kaname...!"

"Don't worry, Takuma, her stomach wounds reopened as she tried to attack. I do, however, suggest we get her back to the dorm before someone else finds her. Perhaps she has something in her room to heal her."

Stella breathed heavily as she whimpered her instincts to call out to her Pack great. Her stomach heaved. Kaname kneeled down by her side, causing her to bark sharply in warning. "Stella," he said calmly, "I'm going to need you to shift back into your human form, OK?" She whined and snapped at him.

"Kaname, I was able to get her trust a little earlier, allow me to try," Takuma said as he then knelt next to the werewolf girl. "Stella, you need to return to human form. You're hurt and we can't help you this way. Please allow us to help you. You have my word as a gentleman that we will not harm you." He told her kindly. He felt that "gentleman" was the best thing to say as he knew she did not trust vampires.

She stared at him, her eyes flicking across his face from left to right, seeing if he was truthful or not. Then, her body morphed, returning to a human. Her white school uniform's front -it had returned with the collar -was stained and soaked with the red blood flowing from the three wounds in her stomach from the vicious fight with the Wendigo.

Seeing that you had enough trust to morph back into human form, Takuma reached out to pick Stella up but stopped. "I am going to have to pick you up, Stella."

She breathed heavily, obviously in pain but shook her head, face white. She placed a hand on the ground, trying to prop herself up, the other arm around her stomach, as if to stop the bleeding. Her arms shook with the effort but she stood anyways, blood seeping from her wounds.

Sighing at her stubbornness Takuma went against Stella's wishes and gently grabbed her. Ignoring her squirming form, he lifted her up in his arms and look down at her pained face. "This isn't a time to be stubborn, Stella. You trust me, don't you? I will not harm you." His voice was strict but gentle as he gripped Stella gently. While he could smell her blood he had no hunger towards it, all he could think about was getting her to safety.

Stella writhed in his arms, trying to get free. Terrible memories plagued her mind. Tears began to build in her eyes so she closed them tightly, not wanting the vampires to see any weakness come from her. She only cried when she was alone. Werewolves grow up taught how to keep their weak emotions away from others. They have to be smart, strong, and in control at all times to fight vampires.

"Shh, I am not going to hurt you," Takuma cooed softly this time, trying anything to get Stella to calm down. Then, glancing at Kaname, Takuma found himself frowning a bit. "Kaname, I think it would be best to make sure no one is downstairs in the dorms. It will only upset her even more."

Tears pricked in her eyes from the touch and the overwhelming smell of pureblood. Her breath came in fast rasps her memories streaming in front of her vision. Stella began to hyperventilate.

"In that case I will insure that everyone stays in their dorms," Kaname nodded before he disappeared with Pureblood speed. Heaving a heavy sigh, Takuma glanced down at Stella, gripping her a little tighter.

Wind ripped across her face, turning her skin cold -the contrast in temperature causing her eyes to burn with the withheld tears. She strained her arm, holding it tightly around her stomach -as if to stop the bleeding.

"Don't worry, we're already there," Takuma said as he noticed her pain. Picking up his speed just a little he rushed into the Moon Dorms. Like Kaname said he would, he made sure that no other vampire remained downstairs or anywhere else outside their dorm. However Takuma was in such a rush to get Stella to her room he wasn't paying a lot of attention.

Stella felt the cool, plush bed sheets beneath her as Takuma laid her down on her bed. She used one of her hands to point to her dresser drawer.

"In there," she began, voice weak, "are three vials of potions. I need you..." she grimaced with pain before continuing, "to apply it. I need the green first -It stops infections- then the purple -it'll stop the bleeding -and then the blue one -that'll cause my bone marrow to rapidly produce more blood cells. After that, inside my skirt pocket I have a needle and some medical thread. I can re-sew up my gashes myself."

Takuma had no time to be confused or question the werewolf about the vials or anything else. Acting as fast as he could, Takuma followed Stella's orders, beginning with removing her uniform top, leaving her in only her bra. A blush a light blush played in Takuma's face though as he started to apply the potions in the order he was told to.

The potions burned her as they began to work and she tensed, but relaxed again, remembering that for the blue potion to work, she'd need to have all of her muscles lax so that it could permeate the bones and contact the nervous system.

Watching up close the potions starting to work, Takuma smelt something very familiar, only stronger this time. Chuckling softly now that Stella seemed safe, he felt he could be playful again. "So, this is where the pretty smell came from."

She nodded, staring at her stomach as the blood stopped flowing. "If you could, please get me a wet washcloth so I can clean myself up."

"Right," Takuma nodded and, standing up, walked through a door in the dorm. Stella had gotten her own bathroom as it was doubtful she would want to share with the vampires. Besides half the vampires in the dorms have their personal bathrooms.

Takuma came back in and handed her the towel. She started dabbing at her stomach, trying not to reopen her wounds again. The blood smeared over her tanned skin, turning pinkish with diffusion. She glanced up at him, wondering why he was still there, but didn't say anything.

Finding himself no longer able to look at Stella, as she was still only in a bra and now okay, Takuma kept his head to the side. However he felt that he should not leave until the werewolf asked him to.

"Do you need help with anything else?" he asked, a shade of pink on his cheeks.

Due to the culture that she grew up in, Stella wasn't at all bothered by being in a smaller amount of clothing. Werewolves shift, and without their collars, their clothing usually gets destroyed, so, normally before a hunt they just go around with nothing on. However, from dealing with creatures from tons of different places, she could sense his discomfort. "Unless you want to help me stitch up my stomach, there's not really anything else I can think of."

"Well, it seems you are good to do that on your own. If you don't mind I would like to get back to my Death Note manga. I'd like to finish it before I go to sleep," Takuma said as he turned his back on Stella and walked for the door.

"Manga?" Stella asked as she began to sew herself up.

Stopping at the door walk, Takuma turned his head back to look at Stella in the face, trying to avoid her chest. "Yes? Do you read manga as well?"

She shook her head, "Werewolves aren't able to indulge in reading for pleasure. We're too busy trying to keep our young from being murdered by humans and vampires. Although, in my trips to towns, I saw some in bookshops and stores."

"Hmm," Takuma hummed thoughtfully before smiling at Stella. "Well I have hundreds in my room if you would like to barrow any."

She shrugged, "I'd rather not get into a relationship that's more than coldly civil with a vampire if that's alright with you."

Takuma laughed a bit and closed his eyes in a friendly smile. "And how will me lending you books to read do anything like that?" He asked before shrugging. "If you change your mind just come find me. Good night, Stella-chan."

Stella shook her head, not even bothering to respond. Why did that vampire have to be so kind? She wished that he would hate her, that way it'd be easy for her to hate him.

As Takuma walked back to his dorm room he began to think over what happened during the time Stella calm to the school. A pretty interesting night, he had to say. Oh, speaking of which Takuma still needed to wash the werewolf spit off his face. Walking into his room, the vampire couldn't help but look down the hall to where Stella's room was. Even there was no denying she could be dangerous at times, she sure made the school much more interesting and fun than it's been in a while.

**End of this chapter! I hope you've enjoyed~**

**REVIEW. IT IS DEMANDED. **


	6. Chapter 5: Something New

As the alarm clock awoke the sleeping Ashlen, the girl groaned with anger. Oh how she hated that sound. If it wasn't for the fact it would make her hand hurt, she'd have smashed the alarm clock to pieces the second it went off. However there was a vast difference between punching an enemy and punching something that was made of plastic, metal, and glass. So the witch settled for slapping her hand down on the snooze. Sometime as she was unconscious, she must have turned around into a more comfortable position to sleep in.

_Why does class have to start at seven in the morning? Stupid private school_, Ashlen thought as she continued to lie on her stomach. Having only gotten a few hours of sleep Ashlen decided to lay in bed for a few more minutes. She really didn't want to get up. She could barely remember the last time she'd slept in a plush, nice bed. The ones back at the Guild, while the Elite had better facilities than other agents, weren't at all this comfortable. The beds that were provided were pretty much the equivalent of cots, beefed up with padding.

While it wasn't the best place in the world and while most people didn't understand why the agents put up with it –none of them would leave. Everyone belonged to each other, like a family there –even if they were continuous rivals. The agents all worked under one similar goal –to rid the world of the beasts that rid them of a happy, normal life for their species. You see, all of the people who worked for the Guild had all been robbed of that chance at some point, something had occurred to all of them that spurred them into their conquest. That's why they didn't leave.

That's why they were united. They all believed in one cause, and they would do anything to fight for it –even the Fey. The Guild was a feat, really. Creatures that would never work together, like Faeries and Elves, would fight side by side. That's what makes the Guild such an unstoppable force for justice, or at least it used to be for justice. Now with Rexdeal in charge, Ashlen didn't know what they fought for.

Aside from the vampires the early hours were truly worst part of the mission. Normally Ashlen could handle going on missions with very little sleep. On lack of sleep Ashlen had far more energy fighting an enemy over these simple spy missions. At least a fight gave the witch a strong burst of adrenaline. The only thing spy missions gave her was boredom and the feeling that she could be doing something so much more entertaining. Like messing around with Xaviay. Ashlen sighed, her chin resting on her arms. While this was only a covert quest, with 50-60 vampires involved, Ashlen was sure that some type of action would pop up sooner or later. All she had to do was wait.

_Bbbbuuuuuuuuzzzzzzzzzzzzzz_

"Oh shut up!" Ashlen shouted as her alarm clock went off after the chosen nine minutes. In her irritation the witch, in the end, picked up the clock and threw it against the wall opposite her bed, silencing the device. In hindsight, that wasn't really the smartest thing to do, but with the buzzing finally stopped, Ashlen was able to calm down.

_Stupid alarm clock… Might as while buy a new one when I get free time. Maybe I could get one that plays music rather than buzzes. It's less annoying that way,_ the brunette thought as she pulled her exhausted body out of the bed. Rubbing her blue-gray eyes tiredly, the witch stretched her arms high into the air before finally forcing herself to get ready for her first day of school.

Ashlen changed into her uniform, grimacing at the skirt and then walked out of the room and into the bathroom. There, she brushed her teeth and brushed her hair, getting frustrated at the tangles. Sometimes, curly hair wasn't her cup of tea. Not wanting to deal with the long locks today, she pulled it up into a ponytail and smoothed out the top. Looking herself over, she nodded towards her reflection in the mirror and went back to her room. There, she grabbed her messenger bag that held various items such as pencils, paper, and notebooks. It also, however, held magical things like a spell book –this really weighed her down, but it was necessary –a few potions, a book on herbology, healing, and potion making, a book on defensive spells in her element, and a book on offensive spells in her element.

After slinging the heavy bag over her shoulder, she left the room and hurried down the hall, remembering what she could of the path Kaien had took her the night before. While she didn't have the same sense of direction that Stella had -the wolf-girl was the tracker -she had been trained from the tender age of nine to memorize the course she had gone. It's a survival tactic that each member of her faction had been taught. None of them had to become Hansel and Gretel. The Elite faction of the Guild would never need to leave a trail of bread crumbs, so to speak.

Running in a mini skirt, however, was a completely different story. Ashlen was rather glad that the Sun Dorms were split into two buildings. If they weren't, there was no doubt in Ashlen's mind that guys would be looking at her underwear as she ran. That would more than likely this action would lead to her punching them repeatedly. _Damned short skirt_. Maybe Ashlen could sneak a pair of shot shorts underneath.

"Ah!" Ashlen cried out as she almost banged into Yuki when she turned the last corner to stairs going down to the lower level. Luckily she skidded to a stop right before their bodies could make contact with each other. She almost lost her balance and had to shift her feet to keep from pitching over due to the inertia.

"Oh!" Yuki gasped in shock, her heart slamming against her chest at the almost collision. She stepped back. "Ashlen-san!"

"I'm so sorry, Yuki. I didn't mean to scare you," Ashlen apologized and fought back a blush. The witch had never been this much of a space-cadet due to the fact that she always made sure to pay attention to everything –her entire faction did -however, in the early morning, even Xaviay is spacy.

"No, no, that's fine," Yuki told her, feeling like she was the one at fault. "I should have been paying more attention."

Shaking off her blush Ashlen attempted a friendly smile. "Were you perchance coming to look for me?"

Yuki nodded at the witch. "Yes. I wanted to make sure you knew where to go." As they talked, the two girls began to run down the stairs, the force of gravity pulling them down fast. They got to the even floor and began walking towards the doors.

"Actually, while I know my way around the dorms and to the Headmaster's office, I don't know how to get to my classes. I suppose I am going to need your help after all," Ashlen admitted, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I'm glad to help!" Yuki responded brightly. "Besides, it's not like Zero would."

"Zero's your partner, right?" Ashlen questioned as she and Yuki began to walk down the stairs and out of the dorms. The sunshine hit her face and Ashlen blinked rapidly to adjust her eyes to the sudden brightness.

"We're prefects together," Yuki explained, misunderstanding Ashlen's remark about partners.

"Yes, so you are partners in work, that's what I meant," Ashlen playfully chuckled. "What, did you think I meant in a romantic way or something?"

Yuki blushed slightly, "Yeah. It sounded like that." The short haired brunette inwardly laughed as she thought: _It seems like I'm not just part of the Disciplinary Committee now –It looks like I'm the Welcoming Committee too!_

Ashlen simply shrugged and placed her hands in the pockets in the jacket, then grunted. "Do you know why the skirts are so short? The Headmaster gave me a completely random and nonsense answer. In fact I might have given a stupid reply to him."

Yuki shrugged, "I have no idea. I hadn't ever thought about it actually."

"Well no boys better try to look up my skirt or else," Ashlen grumbled and crossed her over her chest.

"They won't! At least, I hope they won't."

"Hmm…" Ashlen simply hummed as she watched the school getting closer as they walked. She didn't trust boys around short-skirted girls. The males back in the Guild were all terribly horny -of course, that's because most of them were some type of animal half-breed and therefore were prone to animalistic lust.

"Did you eat breakfast?" Yuki asked the other girl.

Ashlen shook her head and blushed as she felt her stomach growl at the mention of food. "No, I didn't have time to eat. But now that you mention it I haven't eaten since... was it 3 the other night?" She trailed off in thought as she tried to think of the time she ate and how many hours it would have been with the time zone change. She shook her head again, vowing to never try to do that much mental math again.

Yuki smiled, "We have time if you want me to take you by the cafeteria."

"Sure," Ashlen said with a shrug, "or," she paused here and looked around to make sure no one was near before looking at Yuki. "You were told what Stella and I really are, right?"

Yuki nodded, "Yes. Because we are the school's Guardians, the Headmaster told Zero and me."

"Good, then I can do this," Ashlen said and walked to the nearest tree. Again, making sure no one was watching, she made a bright red apple grow out of nothing before plucking it down to eat.

Yuki's crimson eyes widened. "How did you do that?!"

"Well you said you were told what we are. Stella is a werewolf and I am a witch that has power over Nature," Ashlen said as she took a bite of her fruit. "Do you want something?"

Yuki shook her head, "That's amazing." she then continued, "Sure."

"Thank you," Ashlen said and lifted my hand into the air "Apple, orange, or banana?"

"Apple," Yuki answered, her own stomach rumbling. She had forgotten to eat as well. Yori had woken her up at the normal late time, unknowing that Yuki would have to show Ashlen around.

Ashlen nodded and again grew an apple from the tree when no one was looking. Once it was ripe enough, the witch plucked it from the tree and tossed it to Yuki. Gym being one of Yuki's only best subjects, she easily caught the apple and thanked Ashlen for it before starting to eat.

Yuki bit into it then gasped. "That's delicious. Thank you, Ashlen-san."

"You're welcome," Ashlen responded and took the last bite of her apple before throwing the core into the nearest trash bin. Growing food was always harder when the trees she had to use weren't the correct ones that naturally had the fruit. Ashlen already felt more tired than when she had woken up.

Yuki continued to eat her apple as the two girls walked towards the school. "Are you in school back in your Guild?" she asked.

Ashlen shook her head as she rubbed apple juices off her hands. "No, not really. We don't go to school anymore. _School_ usually stops for a person when they turn twelve or thirteen. During school we're sent on missions, but not that many. When school stops, our entire life revolves around going on different quests. We still have training classes to make our skills better but nothing like this." Ashlen explained what she had gone through in her line of work.

Yuki nodded. "Oh, so I guess this is a new experience for you then!"

"Sort of. Stella and I have been sent to schools before but never for a reason like this," Ashlen sighed and fought to keep in a yawn. She was so tired that only coffee would help her wake up fully. Of course, if she had the herbs she could easily make a potion that would do the job. However, she didn't bring any with her. She'd only thought to bring the potions for Stella's wounds. She'd probably need to contact Emma for more.

"Have you ever been to another country before?" Yuki questioned. Ashlen was a lot easier to approach than Stella. The wolf girl had sorely intimidated Yuki, whereas she could genuinely relate to Ashlen. Yuki was very curious about where Ashlen and Stella had come from, but last night, she couldn't bring herself to ask Stella any questions. The werewolf had just been so scary! Yuki vaguely wondered how the vampires felt about having a werewolf in their midst.

"Yes, I was born in Canada but I've been living in Greece since I was a little girl. I've been to Scotland and London before, as well as," here, Ashlen began to list off all the countries she and Stella had gone on missions to.

With each passing country, Yuki's eyes widened. She then noticed that Ashlen –who'd been going chronologically –had mentioned Romania more than once. "Wow, that's a lot! So have you been to Romania more than the others?"

Ashlen nodded and wrapped her arms around herself. She made it look like she was crossing her arms but she was really hugging herself. "Yeah, sadly. That is the birthplace to vampires and werewolves. Or at least according what humans say," The witch didn't want to give the Lycanthrope explanation that Stella had so adamantly defended, so she just gave the one most humans knew.

"I thought that the first Vampire was in Japan. Well, there are a lot of myths about Vampires all over the world, so I guess we'll never really know."

Ashlen nodded and sighed softly. She really hated talking about vampires, fake or real, but it was part of her mission after all, so it couldn't be avoided. "There are vampires that live in Romania but if they originated from there or not, I am not sure. All I know is the first vampire was not Dracula." The two girls now were in the school building.

Yuki giggled, "True enough. Dracula never existed in the first place."

"He was a real man, Yuki," Ashlen said as she looked at her. "Just not a real vampire."

"Really? Hm," Yuki said.

Ashlen shrugged as she looked around the hall. "So which room is our class?"

Yuki responded to the last question, "Oh, it's at the end of this hallway," she stood on her toes and pointed, "Right there."

Ashlen nodded again before looking at her watch. "Well, we better hurry. We have thirty seconds before class starts."

Yuki and Ashlen ran to the classroom then quickly went inside. Because she'd need to be introduced to the class, Ashlen stayed by the door while Yuki went up to her desk. Just as the prefect sat down, the teacher walked in. The teacher wore glasses around his normal brown eyes and finely groomed black hair was on his head. He sat his books down on the desk and then began to speak, motioning to Ashlen.

"Alright class, it seems that we have a new student. She isn't from around her so please be nice to her."

"Hello, my name is Ashlen Baker. My parents have work related business in your country so I will be attending your lovely school until it is time for me to go home," the witch told them before her smile turned a little mean. "Oh, and by the way, I am the newest prefect. So I suggest you not piss me off, OK?"

There were whispers of anger and jealousy from the other girls in the room regarding her last comment. What gave the new girl the right to become part of the Disciplinary Committee?

The teacher sighed, rubbing his face before saying, "Alright Ashlen. You can go and take the seat next to Yuki."

Ashlen nodded to the teacher and then walked up to where Yuki was sitting beside a shorter-haired girl. Ashlen walked behind both of their seats and then sat down in the empty one. She deposited her blue bag beside her chair and retrieved her notebook, and a pencil. After that, she leaned over, muttered a silent cloaking spell over her book, _A Collection of Offensive Spells for Nature Element _by Gul'dan Salazar. She made the cover turn into that of _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire _by J.K. Rowling instead of its normal brown leather. She set it on the desk and then looked at the teacher who had begun to lecture. Ashlen had brought the variety of books with her that she did, due to the fact that she need to further her magic abilities. While she was a very advanced witch, there was room for advancement. Normally, she performed defensive spells, and, when in the presence of vampires, she knew she'd need to learn better offensive techniques.

She sat back in her chair and then began to read, the book in her lap, only looking up every so often to make the teacher think she was actually paying attention to the lecture. Ashlen would never need to know this information. It wouldn't benefit her to understand the concepts of geometry, or statistics, or whatever bullshit the sensei was teaching. No, in a life or death situation, when a Wendigo is coming at you and your best friend faces it alone to protect you and then almost dies, you wouldn't need to understand CPCTC. No, you'd need to know how to conjure up attacking earth spirits.

A crease appeared between Ashlen's eyes as she read. She'd need to practice as she made her rounds later. Ashlen was on the defensive end of the Elite. She'd never needed to practice on her offensive magic –that was handled by both Stella and Suzuki when they were younger –and when she'd go on joint missions with the werewolf girl Stella always had it when they fought. Ashlen would guard Stella's back, and Stella would rip off the beast's head. However, after what had happened with the Wendigo, Ashlen realized that Stella couldn't always fight on her own –that epiphany was something that Stella needed to realize as well. Ashlen knew she had to do something because, no matter what, Stella would always rush into danger.

The witch guessed that it had to do with her Lycan instincts. Stella, and the werewolves that Ashlen had met, all had the same mentality about battle –kill first, ask questions later. Because they always fought in Packs, Stella was used to being able to go into a battle and have more than three werewolves watching her back. That belief that had been ingrained in the girl's mind wasn't something that came in handy, and, in fact, was actually detrimental to the missions at times –this brought out by the Wendigo. Of course, Stella usually got hurt, and it was never anything to fret about. Normally, it only damaged one of her forms, making it easy to heal on its own.

However, from the last battle with the Wendigo, the beast had mutilated all three of the forms –the wound was that deep. That meant that Stella needed special medical help –something that no doctor, or witch for that matter, could give her. Only unicorns, and those descended from them, are able to heal werewolves. It was just her luck that Chara –the resident Unipegasisacorn of the Elite –had gone on a long term mission with Veles and hasn't come back to the Guild yet. That meant that Stella could only medicate herself with potions. Those potions would heal any other creature in a matter of seconds, but not werewolves. It would only cure one of their forms.

They'd have to apply it to every form. It wouldn't be a problem, normally, for other creatures with duplicate forms, however –nothing that's not a werewolf is able to touch or be within biting distance of a werewolf in released form. Once they reach their third form –that being a full wolf –they are untouchable. In that form, only their Alpha commands them, and their bloodlust becomes so bad, that getting near them almost always results in death. Even though they regret it later on.

Ashlen flipped to the first page of the book. Offensive beginning spells. Of course, she knew this by heart, however, she hadn't practiced them in a while and she wanted to relook over the words and phrasing.

_Spell one: Create vines_

_Vites Crescere_

_Spell two: Make vines wrap around enemies_

_Vites Apprehende_

_Spell three: Make a vine wall_

_Vites Dissaeptum _

Ashlen's blue-gray eyes continued to scan over the page, thinking about how the first chapter's spells over vines –one of the easiest things to conjure –were much like the defensive aspects. It didn't surprise her though. As the teacher droned on, Ashlen continued to block him out. Chapter two was different; it was about making grass move around to disable enemies. She recognized some as similar to defensive techniques, but she also noted that the verbiage for some of the mantras were different. Like instead of _Gramen Remora –_this causes grass to hold the enemy and prevent them from advancing, however it also allowed them to defend themselves –it was _Gramen Arripio._ They did basically the same thing; however, _Gramen Arripio_ caused the enemy to not even be able to defend themselves. Ashlen noticed other differences like this throughout the chapter. By the time she reached chapter three –basic conjuring of nature spirits –the bell bonged for lunch.

She looked up from her book and then quickly set it into her bag before packing up her things. She stood and then looked over at Yuki who was waiting at the end of the row with her friend. Ashlen raised an eyebrow at her and Yuki motioned for her to follow. Ashlen quickly went after the two other girls.

"If you want," Yuki began as the three walked out of the room, "You can eat lunch with us."

Ashlen smiled, "I'd love to."

* * *

**It would be much appreciated if you reviewed and critiqued!**


	7. Chapter 6: A Turn of Events

As they sat down at their table, Ashlen couldn't help but feel extremely grateful for Yuki. Upon arriving just the other night the witch hadn't packed any means of food –Rexdeal had surprised both the girls with the mission, so she'd only packed the bare essentials when they were called. She and Stella had both brought Japanese money to use, yet due to the fact that she hadn't been thinking right in the early morning, Ashlen had left the money she had in her room. She had expected this school to run like the Guild, in the way that no agents had to buy their food –they only had to get what they wanted. Free food to them was a thank you for the hard work that they did. So, it's safe to say that without Yuki, Ashlen would have gone hungry. Of course Ashlen promised to pay the girl back the next time she could.

"So, how are you enjoying Japan so far, Ashlen?" Yuki's friend, Yori as Ashlen learned her name was, asked. Ashlen took a bite of her hiyashi chuka and shrugged her shoulders.

"To tell the truth it isn't my first time in Japan," Ashlen admitted carelessly. Yuki looked at her in surprise. Ashlen hadn't mentioned Japan when she was describing the countries she had visited.

"When were you in Japan?" Yuki questioned. She couldn't but be slightly suspicious.

"When I was a little girl," Ashlen shrugged and then turned her head to the side. While she told Yuki where she had travelled with Stella during her time in the Guild, she never mentioned her parents were dead –they had died in Japan actually. It wasn't something the girl liked to think about.

Both the girls were satisfied with the answer. Yori didn't know anything about the girl, and seeing as how she was a sensible and calm person she was able to tell that Ashlen didn't want to talk further in that subject. Yuki, on the other hand, had multitudes of questions –however, they couldn't be asked in front of Yori. The three continued to eat their lunches in peace, making casual small talk until a muttering disturbance reached their ears.

"Why does the new girl get to be a prefect?" a girl whispered to her group of friends. Her greasy, short black hair slipped into her face and she pushed it back behind her ear. The group of girls stared at Ashlen as they discussed her status.

"I don't know, but I don't think that we should get too worked up about it," another girl stated, her arms crossing against her large chest. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"She better not steal my Shiki-kun away from me," a third girl mumbled. Her friends nodded and then looked at Yuki.

"Yeah, Yuki Cross is already doing that. I would make a better prefect than any those two put together."

"No way, you'd totally jump all over Wild-kun," the girl with short hair sniggered.

"And you think you're better? You'd just attack Aido!" the girls laughed once more. At the laugh her comment received, the busty girl with glasses looked pleased with herself.

"Do you think we should confront her?" the short haired one asked.

"No way. Totes not coolio, Tomomi-chan," another girl, her hair loose and long around her shoulders said.

"Yeah," the busty one agreed as she looked at Ashlen warily. Usually, she agreed with Tomomi, but today… not so much.

Tomomi made a face, "Why aren't you siding with me, Akira? You always do!"

"Well, I just think it's a stupid idea to confront someone in the Disciplinary Committee. Plus, Yuki's over there too and Zero-san is like creepy protective of her."

"Whatever," Tomomi snorted at Akira. "I'm going to anyways."

The girls tried to dissuade the girl as she began to strut over to the table Yuki, Yori, and Ashlen were occupying. Akira turned back to her friends and they shared a worried glance. Even to the people she knew the best, Tomomi was a bitch.

Just as Ashlen was finishing her hiyashi chuka, she noticed that one of the girls from the giggling idiots was now coming over. Raising an eyebrow Ashlen lowered her chopsticks to the table and turned to fully face the girl.

"Can I help you?" Ashlen asked her, trained eyes darting over the girl's body. Apparently, judging from body language, the girl was only trying to impress her friends. She carried herself in a similar way to Melody back in the Elite. She didn't seem to have much self-confidence.

The girl made an ugly face at her. "Well aren't you a pool of sunshine."

"Excuse me?" Ashlen questioned, rather confused by the choice of name. Ashlen was rather cranky and just now fully waking up. She was nowhere near a "pool of sunshine". She honestly couldn't figure out what about her made the girl had thought equated to being a happy go lucky person. That's like saying Veles hates poetry.

"You think you're so cool, don't you prefect?"

_Oh God, I hate this kind of person_, Ashlen thought as she rolled her eyes before smirking. Hey, she might as well have a bit of fun with this girl.

"Actually yes I do, thanks for noticing," Ashlen replied smartly.

The girl was stunned for a second at the reply. The girl, while she had confronted Ashlen, was no were near good at witty comebacks. After the slight hesitation she went on to say, "Yeah, well, you're not!" It was the best thing that Tomomi could come up with. She wasn't a genius. That was Akira's job.

"Hmm, now let me see about that. I've traveled to many different places, pet a tiger and made friends across the world. So I think I'm actually am pretty cool," Ashlen said gleefully. She was enjoying showing this girl up. It had been a long time she'd gotten in a battle of smartass-ness.

"Yeah! Well… I'm… I'm… I'm rich! Suck it loser!"

"Good for you, maybe your parents can buy you happiness," Ashlen said and, even though she was actually having fun taunting this girl, turned her back on her. She wanted to finish her drink.

"Why are you a prefect?" Tomomi inquired rudely, not letting the dispute falter.

Ashlen shrugged and paused for a second, thinking of a reason to give the girl before coming up with the perfect response. This would more than likely piss her off but Ashlen was still a little cranky and didn't give a crap. "Because I promised not to rape any of them and I am not a shallow bitch who only cares about looks."

The girl blushed and then said, "Oh yeah?" but she hurried away before Ashlen could retort with anything. Yuki rolled her eyes at them, uncharacteristically annoyed.

"Don't pay any attention to them, Ashlen-san. They're just jealous because we're able to be closer to the Night Class."

Ashlen nodded, "I kind of figured that."

"Man, I'm really sorry though. I feel bad that she treated you like this on your first day."

"Seriously," Ashlen responded, "It is fine. I've dealt with worse." She then chugged the rest of her drink before checking her watch. "The bell's going to ring in about a minute. I'm going to throw away my trash."

Yuki nodded, "Yeah. Me too. Yori, would you like me to take yours as well?"

Yori shook her head, "That's alright, Yuki."

Ashlen stood and grabbed her used bowls and chopsticks. She walked to the trashcan that was conveniently close to the table they had been sitting at and dropped it in. She turned around, almost running into a girl she recognized as part of Tomomi's posse. She raised an eyebrow at the girl who bowed.

"I'm very sorry," she said, "I'm also going to apologize for Tomomi. I know that she seemed like a bitch, but don't take it personally. She's like that with everyone –even her friends."

Shrugging almost carelessly Ashlen gave her a friendly smile. "It's no big deal. I've dealt with girls like her before. Believe me there is nothing she can do that will bother me."

The large busted girl smiled at Ashlen. "Thanks. I'm Akira, by the way, Akira Inoue."

"Ashlen, Ashlen Baker. It's nice to meet you. Hopefully we don't have to end up hating each other when it comes to the Moon Dorms and my prefect duties."

Akira shook her head and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "I don't think I'll hate you. I'm not like Tomomi -or my other friends for that matter."

"That is actually really good to know. I hate girls that are full of themselves and only care about looks. I knew some girls like that in my old school. Sadly a lot of boys in my old school only cared about pretty girls as well," Ashlen sighed as she remembered the other Guild members. A lot of the time girls only talked about cute members and the horny boys usually only tried mating with girls they thought were pretty.

Akira smiled shyly. "I don't really like girls like that either, but I grew up with Tomomi. I feel like I owe her something, but sometimes it's hard for me to be her friend."

Now Ashlen was curious. _What is this girl talking about? _"Would you like to walk with me back to class? If you don't mind I'd like to know what you mean by saying that you feel like you owe Tomomi something," Ashlen asked and quickly waved Yuki and Yori ahead to tell them to go on without her.

Akira nodded, but had a small hesitancy about her before she responded. "Well, when we were younger, I'd get bullied a lot and Tomomi always stood up for me." By the way she carefully chose her words -it was obvious that Akira was lying.

Upon sensing the lie Ashlen tried to convince the girl to tell the truth. "Akira, please tell me the truth. I am not going to judge you." She had a feeling she knew what Akira was going to say but she wouldn't be quick to say anything. She didn't want to offend the girl.

Akira shook her head. "I feel like I can trust you, Ashlen-san, but I don't want to talk about it in a place as public as this. I'd rather talk when we can be in private."

"Yes, I can understand. I have duties after school so why don't we meet up Saturday and you can tell me then?" Ashlen asked, understanding and concerned. This girl was giving off weird vibes. She could sense the girl was human but... there was just this aura about her.

Akira nodded, "Thank you." Then, resuming a happier air, Akira changed the subject. "So, how do you like Cross Academy so far?"

"It's a big change from what I am used to," Ashlen admitted, sighing tiredly. "My old school never started this early. I arrived here last night so I didn't get a lot of sleep," she said with a sheepish smile. As part of her mission Ashlen was allowed to keep some truth to her stories as long as it didn't give away why she was sent to the school in the first place.

Akira nodded. "I bet you must be really tired then." She paused and averted her eyes shyly, "Um, Ashlen-san... I sit right behind you, and I saw you reading a weird book. What was it? I've never seen it before."

Upon realizing that Akira could see through her spell, Ashlen's face dropped in surprise. This was something Ashlen had to talk about now. So, grabbing at Akira's arm, Ashlen looked back to see Yuki looking at her. Apparently she hadn't gone on when Ashlen told her to. "Yuki, can you tell the teacher I stayed behind to deal with ditching students?" the witch called before starting to pull Akira to a more private. She saw Yuki nod unsurely at her before going inside with the rest of the students as the bell chimed.

Akira gasped as she was pulled along. "Ashlen-san, what's all this about?"

Ashlen didn't stop pulling Akira until they were deep in the woods. In fact Ashlen didn't stop until they were both standing on the bridge that went over the pond. Once finding a place where they'd be safe from praying ears Ashlen finally let Akira go and turned to look at her.

"You're a witch," Ashlen informed her bluntly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Akira's eyes widened and she stepped back, "Excuse me?"

"I said, you're a witch," Ashlen reiterated as she then grabbed the book that gave her away. "You saw through my spell. That proves it," she added, holding out the book for Akira to have a closer look at.

A crease formed between Akira's eyebrows as she looked at the book. There was the title _A Collection of Offensive Spells for Nature Element_ by some guy with a weird name. "Why are you reading about magic? It doesn't exist."

Ashlen was starting to get the vibe that Akira didn't even know she was a witch. So, sighing, Ashlen put the book back in her bag and decided to use some of her more harmless nature magic. She made a nearby tree bend one of its branches like it was rubber. The smaller branches bent and stuck out in front of Akira like a hand ready to shake. "Akira, you are a witch, and so am I."

Akira jumped back from the tree and shook her head. "No I'm not. I don't believe in magic."

"Akira, are you an orphan? Or have your parents just never told you what you are?" Ashlen asked as she made the tree branch go behind Akira and hold onto her shoulder. She began interrogation mode –something that all agents were able to fall back on –without realizing it. In the Guild, the Elite was also in charge of interrogating prisoners before they were executed.

"My parents have nothing to do with this!" Akira snapped, tears forming in her blue-green eyes.

"Akira…" Ashlen said just above a whisper. She felt sorry for this girl. The older witch walked over to Akira and gave her the kindest look she could. "There is no reason to be scared. We are born this way. I was born a Nature wielding witch, my mother a Water wielder and my father a Fire wielder."

Akira shook her head. "They would have told me. They would have told me before-" her voice stopped and she lowered her head, taking off her glasses and cleaning the lenses on her school jacket. She shook her head as she performed this action, trying to clear her mind.

"Maybe they wanted you to have a normal human life," Ashlen suggested before shrugging. "Or they were keeping you safe from someone."

"No," she told Ashlen, "They would have told me before they left."

Ashlen sighed and pushed her hands in her pockets, shrugging. "I don't know what else to tell you, Akira. All I know is that you saw through the spell I put on my book." She said as she then turned her back on the girl and letting the tree release her in the progress.

"My parents were very secretive people," Akira began before stopping herself. She took in a shaky breath and then continued, "They left me when I was seven. Tomomi found me and she took me in, she talked her parents into letting me live with them. I-... I guess it's not that unreasonable that they didn't tell me... If they were magic."

Ashlen actually twitched and turned her attention to Akira. She felt that her parents may have not so much have left her rather than that they died. Though she only thought that because it happened to so many other members back in the Guild. Their parents left them for a while and tended to never come back because they end up getting killed. "Do you know why your parents left you?"

Akira shook her head. "They left me one day after some weird, creepy people came to visit. They were yelling at each other. A few days after the people left, my parents told me to go to my room and stay there for the rest of the day. They said they'd send their friends to come and check on me, but they never came. My parents didn't come back either. I think they said that their friends were visiting Japan with their daughter."

Yep, Ashlen's suspicions seemed right. It seems Akira's parents got into a fight with possible humanoid creatures and were then killed. However, even if Akira wouldn't give details on other creatures –the girl was freaked out enough about witches- Ashlen turned back to look at the girl again. "How were those people creepy? If you don't mind me asking that is."

Akira paused, remembering, "They had this ominous aura about them. They just seemed so cold. They also kept talking about "The Master." I don't know what that was about."

Akira's information made Ashlen tense. On the outside she was trying to keep as calm as she could, but on the inside she was freaking out. The Level-C vampires that had killed her parents years ago had also mentioned a Master. It was highly likely that Akira was talking about a Pureblood vampire. "I'm really sorry for you. I believe your parents loved you dearly and only wanted what's best for you. Now if you excuse me, both of us should get back to class now," Ashlen said as she began walking away from the younger witch.

_God, another vampire attack? Why didn't the Guild find out about this one?_ Ashlen would need to tell Stella as soon as she could.

Akira nodded. "So, what element do I wield?" she asked, her interest piqued. When she was younger, she had always fantasized about having magical powers.

"I don't know," Ashlen said with a lazy shrug. "I don't even know if you are an Elemental witch. There are witches and wizards that can cast any spell or curse they wish, and then there are elemental witches and wizards. I am one of those. Our power is to control one element out of Earth, Nature, Water, Fire, and Air. When I'm inside, my powers are weakened because I am away from my power source. Also, I can only preform basic spells and curses," Ashlen explained to the girl, trying to say it in a way that the girl would understand.

Akira pursed her lips, "Alright. How do I find out?"

"You can try using basic Elemental magic. That kind of magic where you don't really need spells," Ashlen said as she exited the woods with Akira. "I'd let you borrow my book but I really need it right now."

"Maybe some other time then," Akira suggested as the two walked back into the cold building. "Ashlen, what should I do now?"

"For now just live like you have been doing for the next few days. We can still meet up on Saturday and I will help you out," Ashlen said, smiling. She planned to get Stella involved and maybe together they could figure out what was with this girl. Even though Ashlen just figured out she was a witch something else seemed off and to figure it out she was going to need the help of her partner. At least Ashlen's hope for action came sooner than expected. Things were no longer boring, that was for sure.

Akira put her hand on the doorknob to the room and then paused. "Thank you Ashlen."

"You're welcome," Ashlen nodded and smiled before joining Akira into the class room. Excusing herself to the teacher, Ashlen return the seat she had been sitting in earlier and took her book back out. She had more studying to do.

* * *

**That's the end of the chapter! I would like you to review. I've also posted a poll on my profile –voting would be appreciated.**


	8. Chapter 7: I Dreamed a Dream

_I ran through a dark forest, the shadows obscuring my paws as they lashed out in front of me with every leaping bound. I was chasing something –but I didn't know what. I could only see it –a quick fleeting glimpse of something unknown –before it would be out of my view. I smelled the air, the scent was elusive and I couldn't place it. I continued to run without a purpose –well, no purpose other than wanting to find whatever I was chasing and –_

_I don't know what I'd do when I caught it._

_If I caught it._

_I continued to run, my bounds carrying me along to the path to seemingly endless nothing. _

"_Stella," a voice began, "Stella. Stella. Stella. Stella. Stella. Stella."_

_I turned my head to the side that the voice was coming from. As soon as my head turned that way, my mother's scent encompassed me, causing me to falter. She smelled of home –of Greece and Protasia. I wanted to go back. Longing wedged itself in my belly. _

"_Stella," she began, her light purple eyes locking with my golden ones. Her strides matched mine and her pure white coat seemed to glow in the lack of light. "Come back with me. Come, to Protasia. It's where you belong, dearest Stella. Come back with me. Your father is worried about you."_

_I shook my head, letting out a huff then communicated to her through our telepathic bond, "No. I can't. I'm here."_

_She frowned at me and said back through our mental connection, "Stella, come with me. Diverge from your path –it's not befitting." _

_My heart –already speedy from running –quickened even more as she said this. "Mother," I said, "What do you mean? What is my path? I don't understand."_

_She snapped at me with her teeth bared. I knew I had messed up. We don't ask questions. "That is for the Fates to decide." She sighed, letting out a long breath through her snout before she continued. "The Dove is playing a miserable game with you, dear one. Please, come home." _

"_What are you talking about?" I asked her. "Please, tell me mother." _

_She shook her head and began to run farther from me._

"_I cannot say, dear Stella. Follow me, come back to us. Come back to Pack."_

_My throat felt strained as I barked, howled, and yipped after her –trying in vain to reach her. She disappeared, becoming one with the blackness. I continued to run on a seemingly endless path to nothing._

Stella's eyes opened slowly as she awoke from her dream. Her hazel orbs fixed on the ceiling above her and she laid still. Her dream must have been a sign –a message from her mother, telling her that Alpha was not pleased with her current position. Stella sighed and sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She stretched with her arms above her head and back pulling. She'd need to contact her mother. She got out of bed, the cold air hitting her bare legs where her short, spandex shorts stopped around the higher portion of her thigh. She rubbed her arms –covered with long black sleeves –at the sudden chill. Her bare feet were cold against the floor as she walked over to the dresser and pulled out her mission bag. She fumbled through the contents. She had awoken early –it was only three in the afternoon –having decided that there were things she needed to do.

First, seeing as how there were no scents of food in the Moon Dorms other than blood tablets, Stella knew that she needed to go out into town to go shopping. Second of all, she would need to contact Emma Silverfin to ask her for special medicine that will stop her from transforming against her will. The pills had originally been made for hippie-like werewolves that hated themselves for what they would do under the influence of the full moon, so the Guild's research and development faction had employed a few wizards and witches to create the pill. Stella knew -if last night had been any indication -that she needed a few.

Well, maybe more than a few.

Thirdly, Stella would need to contact Kazan and give him a rundown of what had happed. And forth, she'd need to talk with her mother and ask her why she'd been sent that dream. What had her mother meant? Stella would like to know.

She'd need to get food first due to the fact that she wouldn't be able to go before she went to sleep after classes. This was the only time to do that. She would, of course, have to ask one of her superiors if she could go. But, she didn't think of them as her superiors. Stella sighed and plopped down on her bed. Maybe she'd wait a little bit and talk to her mother first.

Stella pulled out a drachma and then went into the bathroom before she touched the glass muttering, "O Iris, theá ton minymátibm sas zitó na dechtei aftí tin prosforá kai na mou epitrépsete tin epafi me Aoide Marris tou Protasia Pack stin Elláda." The glass murmured beneath her fingers as she said these words. Silver ripples spread from the place that she had touched. A face appeared in the glass. It was Iris, her eyes were swirling rainbows and her hair cascaded around her like water –all the time changing colors as light refracted through the droplets that created the locks. She smiled at Stella.

"I would like my payment," she said. Stella nodded and tossed her drachma through the mirror. Iris then held it up, examining the shining gold. She then gave it an approving look. "You want to talk to Aoide?"

"Yeah."

"Well, alright then," Iris disappeared and the mirror began to fog as the connection took place. Stella waited patiently. As soon as the fog disappeared, her mother's face became clear. The purple eyes –in Pack, no werewolf resumed their complete human form –looked at her appraisingly.

"Stella?" she asked, looking at her daughter through the mirror. "What do you want?"

"Don't play dumb," Stella demanded, "You know what happened in the dream last night. I want answers."

Aoide raised an eyebrow, "What dream?"

"The one you sent me."

"I didn't send you a dream."

"Yes you did. You talked to me –told me to come back to Protasia. You told me not to follow my path anymore."

Aoide shook her head, causing fine, white blonde hair to fall out of her messy bun. "No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"Stella, I will not play this game with you," Aoide reprimanded. "I did not send you a dream. Dear, we are not even in the same time zone."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Stella protested.

"Yes it does. It means that there is a seven hour difference. We would not have been sleeping at the same time. As you know, to send dreams you must both be sleeping. I wasn't sleeping."

"Then why did I dream that?"

Aoide shrugged, "I'm sorry, love, but I don't know. If you want, you can tell me more about your dream. I can try to help."

Stella shook her head. "It's fine. It was just weird."

"Were you chasing something?" Aoide had a suspicious look in her eye. Stella's head felt cold as she nodded. When her mother had that look something terrible was about to happen. Aoide looked as if she was going to say something then she stopped herself. "Stella," she said, "Stella. Just go with it. I'm sure you will find the message at some point."

The werewolf could tell that her mother was hiding something, but she knew that Aoide would only say what she wanted to. Stella sighed, "Mother, sometimes I'd wish you'd tell me the whole truth."

Aoide let out a barking laugh, "And sometimes I wish your brother wasn't such a rambunctious pup, but we can't always get what we want."

"Mother…" Stella began, the mention of her brother causing her to remember a deep worry of hers. "Has Abrax imprinted?"

Aoide sighed. "Yes."

A feeling of resentment as well as protectiveness came over Stella. She narrowed her eyes, "What's she like? What Pack is she from? Who is she?"

Aoide laughed lightly. "She's a good girl. Her name is Apollonia. She's a nice girl."

"What Pack is she from?"

"She's from Thyella."

Stella nodded approvingly. "If she had been from Maxh or Makeleio I'd have to give Abrax a talk."

Aoide raised an eyebrow, "We can't choose who we imprint on."

Stella sighed, shoulders slouching. "I know."

"And anyways, you should be trying to think kindly on the Maxh and Makeleio. As the daughter of Protasia's Alpha, and descendent of the purest bloodline through your father and me, you should be contemplating about how you can further the bonds between Maxh and Makeleio."

"Mother, they're terrible Lykánthro̱pos! Why should any of us have to deal with them? Personally, I think we should just destroy their Packs all together –and I know that my generation agrees. I've even heard Father talk of it."

"This is exactly why you and your siblings need to be especially kind to them. Aella's imprinted on Dimitrios from our Pack and Hypatios imprinted on Xanthe from Xeilos. You are our last option."

"Are you telling me to try and force an imprint on someone from Makeleio and Maxh?"

Aoide frowned, "I'm telling you indirectly to try and imprint on Adrastos."

Stella shook her head frantically. "No. No way. I will never imprint on someone like him."

"He's the Alpha of Maxh. He's strong. He's powerful. He's handsome. Any she-wolf would die to be his mate."

"Actually, I find him dreadfully boring and he's not wise in the slightest. I have nothing in common with him! I don't like him, alright? If I was going to imprint on him, I would have already."

Suddenly, a sharp cry pierced the air on Aoide's end. She looked back. "Aella's youngest, Kadmous, is crying."

Stella nodded, "How is Aella?"

"She's fine. Her children are growing into strong young werewolves."

"Has Ioustos gone on his first hunt yet? I wish to be there when he does."

"No, Ioustos isn't old enough yet. He's only four."

"Ah. Time flies. I haven't seen the boys in a couple of months."

"Would you like to speak with Ioustos? Menolaos is out training with Abrax, your father, and Dimitrios."

Stella declined the offer. "Not right now. There are things I need to do –I need to go out and get supplies for my mission as well as contact our magical supplier."

"The Australian mermaid?"

Stella chuckled, "That'd be Emma."

"She's a strange girl."

"I guess you can say that. But anyways, I need to go."

Aoide sighed, "Alright. I'll tell your father that you called. Although, he might want to call you back."

Stella frowned, "Somehow, I doubt that."

"Goodbye, dear."

"Goodbye, Mother."

The image of Aoide instantly disappeared and was replaced by Stella's reflection. She sighed, picking up her brush and bringing it through her hair. The copper locks were tangled. She continued to yank the brush through until her hair was smooth and sleek. She then brushed her teeth, getting any bad smell out of her mouth. She sniffed herself after she was done. She smelled fine –and since she's a werewolf, she knew that her nose rang true. Still though, she wanted to take a shower after classes.

Stella walked out of her bathroom and over to the dresser, pulling out some holey jeans and a loose t-shirt. She took off her nightclothes and quickly changed into the human clothing that she used as a disguise. The sleeve of her t-shirt hung off her shoulder, the neckline too broad. She sighed. There wasn't anything that she could do about that. She then pulled on her socks and light, moccasin like shoes. Once she gave herself a onceover and decided that she was presentable, she left the room and walked down the hallway.

She wasn't sure if she should talk to Takuma or Kaname. While Kaname was the president, she didn't like him due to the fact that his very entity repelled her. She also didn't want him to think that she thought of him as a leader. However, she knew that while she was in the school, she'd have to listen to him. It was like how, when you visit another Pack, their Alpha doesn't control you, but you have to listen to them anyways because they are the resident leader. Or Resident Evil, take your pick.

Takuma on the other hand was only the vice president. Yet, Stella couldn't help but feel comfortable around him –well, as comfortable as one could get when they're with a bloodsucker. Also, he seemed to be in a position of power, therefore she could ask him. Though, she didn't want to be seen as submitting to him either. She was independent of vampires, and she wanted them to know that. For a second, she contemplated on just leaving them a note. After all, it was only 3:45 in the afternoon, which means that both of them were most likely sleeping. She could maybe leave a note as to what and where she was going. She nodded to herself. Yes, that would work.

She quickly ran back to her room and brought out a sheet of paper and pen before quickly jotting down a letter. She sighed as she read it over. No, she'd need to be more respectful. She scratched a few things out and then read over it once more.

_I'm going to go and buy myself food since none of you _**_dipshits_**_ thought to get me any. Don't worry, I won't randomly morph and start killing people. I only do that when I'm in your presence__, **freaking bloodsuckers**__. Therefore, don't worry. I'll probably be back by the time you get this because I'm pretty sure that you're asleep. I just felt like you __leaches__ would feel like it was your "duty" _**_or some other stupid shi_**_**t** to know where I am just in case I go berserk. That said you don't need to__. **If anything, you should worry about yourselves and think about whether or not I'll kill you in your sleep. Don't think I'm above that. The Packs kill vampires like that all the time in their coven-homes. Actually, now that I think about it, this is a coven-home. Just in a different way. **__**That aside,** don't worry, I'm going to town, _**_and you can go fuck yourself._**

_~Stella M._

She nodded. That was a good letter. It's to the point and all the bad things she had wrote were crossed out until they weren't legible anymore. She folded up the sheet of paper and then wrote on the back: _To Takuma. From Stella. (By the way, this is to you because I don't respect Kaname. Not that I respect you either.)_

After she was satisfied, she picked up her messenger bag with all the money she would need and she walked out of her room and down the hallway. She sniffed the air to pick up his scent. Her eye lids fluttered down as she smelled the air. Her eyes popped open –she'd found it. Following the scent strand, she picked up her speed and jogged silently towards his room. She stopped in front of his door, a hand on her stomach due to the pulling of the stitches, and then stopped. He wasn't behind the door. She put her nose to the wood and sniffed lightly. Yes. He definitely wasn't behind the door. As quiet as a mouse, she opened the door and stepped inside.

Her mouth dropped open. _The hell? He gets his own living room? No fair!_

"**Well this is insulting,"** Reality stated.

"**Can I stab someone?" **Anger asked.

"**No," **Passivism commanded. **"Let's just calm down and think about this clearly.**

"**Freaking bloodsucker…"** Anger whined.

Stella shook her head. She really hated her inner-selves. They just made her life more difficult. It was a continuous argument –unless they were asleep and merged into her full consciousness. She picked up his scent once more and followed it across the room. _He's right here…_ she thought before bending down to slide the note under the door. Satisfied with her efforts to keep them in the light, Stella strolled completely silent out of the room, slid down the banister to go to the main floor and then waltzed out of the dorm. She then decided to risk using her werewolf speed to get over the wall without alerting any guards. With that thought in mind, she began to run and then allowed herself to go all out, the things around her almost seeming to stop in motion.

Coming upon the gate, she launched herself into the air. The inertia from her speed carrying her over the wall. As she landed, she pitched forward, running a few yards to regain her footing before stopping completely. She put her hand underneath her loose shirt to feel the stitches. There was slight wetness, but nothing bad. Stella smiled. She was on the mend. She smelled the air, facing into the slight breeze to pick up Ashlen's scent. It was faint –showing that Ashlen hadn't been outside in a while, but it was there. She immediately latched onto it and began to go after the smell.

She followed its exact path, weaving around other scents until she got to the school building.

"Shit," she cursed as she looked around, not knowing what to do. "Now how is this going to work…? Well, I guess I could just knock on the window. That would give Ashlen an excuse to "take me to the Headmaster for punishment" or something. Yeah. That will work."

With this thought, Stella then picked up Ashlen's scent again. Just like before, the wolf girl followed it around the side of the building before she got to Ashlen's classroom. When she reached her destination, she rapped on the glass with her fist. Ashlen automatically looked over, made eye-contact and rolled her eyes. The teacher made a face at the interruption. Ashlen raised her hand, seeing an opportunity.

"Sir, as a prefect, it's my job to take this student back to the Moon Dorms."

The teacher nodded, "Yes ma'am. Go on."

Ashlen smiled, "Thank you, sir."

She then stood up and walked out. Stella, seeing this, then ran around the building to meet her partner and friend. Ashlen shook her head at the beaming wolf girl.

"Stella, what on earth do you want?" the witch asked, chuckling slightly.

"Those bloodsuckers didn't get me any food and since they drink that weird glowing red juicy stuff they don't have anything to eat. So, I need to buy myself a mini-fridge, microwave, and food. I'm hungry. Want to come?"

Ashlen shrugged, "Sure. I'll go. Class is boring and I need to get a new alarm clock anyways. Did you even ask if they had any food?"

Stella nodded, "I didn't need to. I couldn't smell any, therefore there isn't any."

"Huh, I would have thought that the Moon Dorms would have its own private kitchen. One thing I do know about vampires is that they can eat human food if they wish to," Ashlen said as she rubbed her chin before shrugging. "Still a mini fridge would make it more private so it's a good idea."

Stella nodded. "I'd rather not leave my food where they can get it. In a Pack, sharing shows trust and friendship. Friendship is the last thing I want with the beasts."

Ashlen nodded in agreement as she shoved her hands in her pockets in a lazy matter. "Yeah, I can understand that. I am nowhere near excited to meet the bloodsuckers," she said before looking over to her partner. "By the way you have the vampires' information files, right?"

Stella nodded, opening her bag and pulling out the file-book she'd found on her bed with the uniform. "Got them right here."

"Can I see them?" Ashlen asked and reached out her hand to grab at the files.

Stella handed them over and then pulled out a smaller pamphlet. "I also have our mission statement. From what I've read, it seems like we're just going to be stationed here and take care of the mystical work."

Groaning, Ashlen took the folder before crossing her arms against her chest. "Did it say for how long?" she asked, hoping it wouldn't be for too much longer.

Stella shook her head. "It just says to stay until we are called back and to take care of any disturbances while we're in the area. Basically, we're turning into Suzuki."

"Well fuck that! Fuck that prick," Ashlen snapped, her one free hand balling into a fist. For all Ashlen and Stella knew this mission could last a couple years.

Stella sighed. "Suzuki's been gone for six years and still hasn't been called back."

"Yeah I know. I bet the freaking prick is just trying to get rid of us. Sending us on a mission we either hate or fear," Ashlen continued to rant, huffing and puffing in her anger. However, upon realizing that the other ditching people had started to stare, she calmed herself slightly.

Stella scowled, "I wouldn't be surprised. I bet he's trying to get rid of any troublemakers by sending us on these kinds of missions."

Ashlen nodded in agreement and put the folder in her book bag. "No kidding."

Stella chuckled. "At least we can still raise a bit of hell. Oh, and I was looking over the files a little bit last night and they are filled with the most random crap."

Ashlen chuckled and looked at her partner. "Oh? Like what, the student's favorite color?" she asked jokingly.

Stella nodded. "Yeah. I don't need to know what they think of the moon. All I want to know is how to kill them!"

Ashlen's eyes widen. She hadn't been at all serious and now she was surprised. "Seriously? Why on earth would there be so much personal information? I mean I can understand _some _information but information like that is completely useless."

Stella groaned. "I know. After I got through the first profile I threw it down and was like "I quit!" because, it was _so _boring."

"Well maybe we should each take half of the profiles then it can go by faster. We'll just make notes on more of the important things," Ashlen said. To both of them, this mission so far seemed hastily thrown together at best. Ashlen suddenly grabbed Stella's arm before concentrating on transporting them into town.

Teleporting through element based magic is hard and very uncomfortable –it's completely different than the way witches and wizards that use incantations teleport. The teleportation is set up on the element in which the magical being uses. Fire types transport through heat waves, water types go through water vapor, the air users have it the easiest, only needing the slightest amount of wind, earth users go through the minerals and rocks in the ground or around the area, and nature users teleport through the biotic plants around them. It's always uncomfortable, though, to be teleported through any of the elements. Once the two of them had reformed in a place that none of the humans would notice, they stepped out into the light and began to walk down the street.

Stella noted that Ashlen had only teleported them directly within the confines of the rustic town.

Stella nodded, resuming the conversation from seconds earlier. "That will make my job a lot easier."

Ashlen smiled at her and the girls then set about trying to find the appliance stores that they would need to retrieve their groceries. The first thing they were able to find was a small market. Ashlen and Stella walked into the cool building.

"Hey, what do you think I should get?" Stella asked as she glanced around at the booths.

Ashlen hummed as she looked around the market. It sold mostly dairies, meats and bread. "What would you like? I think some sandwich stuff and milk would be good, besides the meat I mean," the witch said before turning to her partner. "You know I think I might get myself a mini fridge as well. I can keep simple foods for my lunches inside."

Stella got a basket and then began to load it up. She snickered while putting a few slabs of packaged meat into the bottom. "Yeah, you remember what Melody used to say: "Mini-fridges aren't just for perishables. They are for life." or something along those lines anyway."

Ashlen grumbled at the mention of the fellow Elite member and began picking out things she herself needed. She hadn't had time to go get her own money but she'd pay Stella back on when she saw her tomorrow. "I don't even want to remember anything that girl says."

"Come on, Melody's not that bad. She's just... really, really weird."

"She wasn't your roommate until we entered the Elite last year," Ashlen grumbled, a vein throbbing in her forehead at the thought of the girl.

Stella shrugged. "I had to deal with that bitchy Xaviay."

Ashlen smirked and chuckled slightly, a smile on her face. "I like Xaviay."

Stella frowned. "You didn't live with her."

Ashlen shrugged and walked to the checkout till with Stella when they were finished. "Yeah, and you didn't live with Melody. Why did she have to share with me? It's not my fault her room got ruined."

The two girls walked to the check out and got into the short line.

"I have no idea. Rexdeal probably thought that since she had shared with you before, you wouldn't mind. Trust me -he'd probably make Xaviay share with me if her home got ruined," Stella told her matter-of-factly.

Ashlen groaned and, after having Stella pay for the items, they moved to the next store. While she had Stella buy her food, she'd wait another day to buy her own alarm clock. As for a fridge, maybe it'd be better for Ashlen to use her Nature powers and turn some of the branches of the tree outside her room to make one. She knew that she couldn't make the insides cold, but she could create the frame.

"Now, for my fridge," Stella said as they entered the appliance store. She walked around, looking at the different products. "Which one should I get?"

"I'd say the cheapest. We were only given a few thousand dollars apiece. Or do we call it yen here?" Ashlen added thoughtfully before shaking her head. "Anyways I might either use my powers to make a fridge or buy myself a fridge on the weekend. I can probably shape tree branches into a fridge but I don't know if I can make the insides cold."

"That's a nifty power," Stella said. "Oh, I need to call Emma after I get back to the dorms."

"Really?" Ashlen asked. That suddenly reminded her. "By the way I'll need you to hang out with me Saturday."

"What's going on?" Stella questioned, immediately going into mission mode. She knew that Ashlen actually meant that she had a problem and needed assistance. She acted indifferently, while on the inside she was wagging her tail with happiness –looks like there would be something interesting on this mission after all. She picked up a slip of paper attached to the fridge labeled "SALE".

"There is a witch in my class," Ashlen said, lowering her voice. Who knew who could be listening in?

Stella's hazel eyes widened and she snapped her head up from where she had been analyzing a price-tag. "What?"

Ashlen nodded and looked all around her before getting a little closer. "The thing is she had no idea she was a witch. I found out when she saw through the spell on my book. I got her to tell me that her parents never told her and disappeared a few days after a fight with vampires," Ashlen whispered before frowning. "At least it sounds like they were vampires."

"Crap. What are we going to do?"

Ashlen shook her head and sighed. "I don't know. I'm just surprised the Guild didn't get involved," she said before looking at her watch. "Anyways we can figure that out Saturday. I said I'd help her out with a few things," her voice rose back to normal. "Come on. Let's buy your fridge so we can get back to the school. I'll buy my alarm clock later. I might as well just get a bird to wake me tomorrow."

"What happened to your alarm clock anyways? Did you break it again?"

Ashlen laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "No, I kind of threw it against the wall."

Stella rolled her eyes, "This is why Rexdeal doesn't give them to us anymore."

Ashlen frowned and crossed her arms stubbornly. "The loud buzzing was pissing me off."

"I have to agree. That's why I don't use them anymore."

Nodding in agreement, Ashlen turned to her partner. "I would rather want an alarm with music. Anyways, would you like some help carrying that?"

"Do you think you could just transport this stuff to my room?" Stella asked hopefully. "The fridge that is. I can carry the rest."

Looking around Ashlen noticed that, even though it was close to sun set, there was too big of risk of being seen. Shaking her head slowly she looked at her partner apologetically. "Sorry, there are too many witnesses."

"Damn it," Stella frowned. "Oh well, I'm strong. I can carry it back. We should really get going though, classes will start soon and I don't feel like pissing off a room of leaches. I might have to kill them."

Ashlen chuckled and nodded. "Not to mention we have to get you inside before Day Class classes actually end. Well, come on; let's hurry."

"Why don't you just transport us?" Stella refused to give up.

"Same reason as the fridge," Ashlen replied. "However once we get to the steps of Cross Academy I can teleport us in front of the Moon Dorm gates."

"That would be amazing," Stella said. "Because I really don't want to have to lug this thing all the way to the Moon Dorms."

"Believe me it would be amazing if you could make it up all those steps let alone Moon Dorms."

Stella nodded, "I know, right?" The two continued to walk, finally reaching the gate. It didn't take them that long because they hadn't needed to go that far into town anyways.

"Alright, now that no one is watching I can finally teleport us." Ashlen said creating a portal that would send the both of them to the front of the Moon Dorm gates

The two girls stepped forward and went through another uncomfortable teleportation.

"Sorry about the discomfort. I'm still not too good at teleportation," Ashlen apologized as they appeared on the other side of the Moon Dorm gates. It was perfect because now they didn't have to open the gates themselves. While she was good at getting to the correct location, the comfort of the teleportation was lost on the witch.

Stella shrugged indifferently. "That's fine. I have three gigantic slits in my stomach. Trust me, I've had worse."

"Yeah, but still. I need more practice, that's for sure," Ashlen said as both she and Stella walked towards the Moon Dorms. They neared a small arch way where a hooded man appeared to be sitting and doing paper work. However as soon as the two girls entered he lifted his head to look.

"And you are?" he asked Ashlen. Even though this man could clearly creep out any other human, Ashlen simply showed him her prefect armband.

"I'm in the Night Class," Stella told the hooded man who gave her a wary look before waving them through. The two girls finished began to walk the small distance to the Moon Dorms. The two girls, about to bid adieu stopped and looked at each other.

After a few second of silence Ashlen yawned tiredly and rubbed her eyes. "Damn it. I think I am going to get to get myself some potions to help myself stay awake," she said before groaning. "Aw dang it! That's what I forgot. I was going to get myself a coffee while we went uptown." She pouted.

Stella chuckled. "If you want, when I contact Emma tonight, I can order some potions for you."

"Yes, that would be lovely. I am going to need them for early mornings," she said before a troubled look came onto her face. "Do you feel that?"

Stella's muscles tensed as her training kicked into high gear and she prepared for a fight. "Yeah..."

"Someone's really mad." Ashlen said in a low toned voice.

Stella nodded. "It's like someone's glaring into my soul..."

Upon walking closer to the Moon Dorm Ashlen and Stella saw the source of the angry aura. Two male vampires were waiting outside the Moon Dorm building. Ashlen looked at Stella, suddenly becoming uncomfortable.

"Should I leave or would you rather I stay?"

"I don't want you to get caught in the crossfire if something were to go wrong. I can't really control what I do in my wolf form."

"Sadly," Ashlen paused to sigh, "As a prefect I think I have no choice but to explain why I didn't bring you back."

Stella frowned. "I don't know..." The werewolf was worried. She could already feel the moon's presence on her conscious and she was beginning to get restless. She wanted to fight and her blood boiled.

"Let's just get this over with."

The two girls then slowly continued forward, taking their time. Neither of them were looking forward to whatever theoretical storm was brewing.

"Didn't you leave a note or something?" Ashlen whispered as they drew into hearing distance of the two males. Stella nodded adamantly.

"Of course I did. I don't know why they're so angry unless... they didn't get it..." If Stella's hands weren't occupied with carrying groceries, she would have rubbed her forehead with frustration. Curse her luck! It's always been bad. Even as a pup.

The last couple of minutes both girls remained silent. Even if she was human she could still sense that the darker haired vampire was the Kuran Pureblood that Kaien Cross spoke about. The other vampire, a blond with green eyes, had a weird aura to him. He seemed upset but nowhere near as angry as the Pureblood. To Ashlen, he seemed to be more humanlike. She could sense these things in her gut due to her magic.

Stella's lip curled as she approached them. Even if she liked Takuma more than Kaname, she still hated vampires. No doubt they'd lecture her about her conduct -even though she didn't care whatsoever.

"Well, Stella, did you have a good trip into town?" Kaname's question was more like an accusatory statement in the guise of an inquiry as he stared down at the young werewolf with disappointment mixed with a bit of anger.

* * *

**Freaking long chapter is freaking long... Ugh... Anyways, review.**


	9. Chapter 8: Pride and Punishment

"Well?" Kaname asked Stella after a moment of silence. He noticed another student with her, a girl from Day Class, but he would question that later.

Stella stared at him defiantly, her lip turning up at the edges into a snarl as she bared her fangs. If she was in her wolf form, her hackles would be raised which would have caused her to look at least a foot taller and much more intimidating than she did in her petite human form.

"Stella, calm down," Ashlen warned, taking a tight but gentle grip on the she-wolf's arm. Stella snapped at Ashlen's hand and the witch withdrew it. Because she had known Stella for years Ashlen did not fear the malevolent wolf side. However, the witch was still smart enough to be wary around it. The reason she had no fear was because Stella's inner wolf hadn't harmed her in the years that the two had been partners. To Ashlen, who'd met many wolves since Stella's home Pack and the Guild were close to each other, Stella had more control than any other werewolf her age –and more than some of the Elders. Ashlen had never seen Stella with this vast amount of rashness.

"Oh, and who are you?" the blond vampire questioned in surprise. It was as if he hadn't even noticed Ashlen before. She cast him a wary glance, tensing because of her closeness to vampires.

"My name is Ashlen Baker. I am the new school's prefect," the girl answered with a small hello and a nod of her head. She wasn't eager to associate pleasantly with any vampires.

The blonde smiled and stuck out a hand, a brilliant smile on his face, "I'm Ichijou Takuma. It's nice to meet you."

Ashlen did her best to keep her face straight for a moment as she looked at the vampire. _What is with him? Why does he seem so friendly? Is this a trap? _Still the last thing Ashlen wanted to do was offend a vampire. So, trusting Stella wouldn't do anything stupid, the brunette extended her hand to meet the vampire boy's offered one. "It is nice to meet you as well, Ichijou-San."

They shook and Stella paid the two no mind as she focused on Kaname. Her mind fired off flares for violence but she shoved them down, doing her best to keep her cool and ignore her inner wolf. Her hands shook and her breathing was labored. "Do not speak as if you're my Alpha." she growled, her voice dark and rough as her vocal chords fought a transformation. "Do _not_ speak to me as if you are my Alpha."

"Stella!" Ashlen snapped as she pulled her hand away from the vampire. Sighing sadly she then turned to the Pureblood.

"I think it would be smart to take her inside and away from the upcoming moon. She usually has far more control than this," Ashlen apologized and advised to Kaname. The last thing she and Stella needed to do was make enemies on this mission. Ashlen didn't understand why Stella was acting like this.

Stella growled at Kaname. Her pupils dilated and her eyes became mottled with gold. She held her breath, trying to fight back her inner wolf from coming out. "You are not my Alpha. You have no right to…" she paused her, swallowing as she fought back the urge to howl. "Reprimand me."

"Stella, inside, now," Ashlen ordered and pointed to the building. Kaname blinked once before gracefully turning around to face the doors.

"If it is the moon that is causing her to act as such perhaps it _would_ be smart to get her out of the rays," he said and opened the door, expecting Stella to go inside.

Stella's lips drew into a tight line and she set the mini fridge down on the ground. Her arms were sore and she also wanted to show that she wasn't going anywhere.

"No," she defiantly said, glaring at Kaname.

"I'll get her, Kaname," Takuma said as he walked forwards to get Stella into the Dorms. However, Ashlen stopped him.

"I wouldn't get close to her right now," Ashlen said, unaware that Stella trusted Takuma. Instead she past Stella her food and picked up the fridge.

"I can help," Takuma told her, watching Stella closely. He'd done it the night before and even though he wasn't sure he could do it again, he had to try to calm her down. She'd trusted him –laid in his lap even –that had to mean something. It seemed so far, that he would be the only one to help Stella with her unwanted transformations. He noticed the strain she was under by the beads of sweat the formed on her brow and how her body was completely tensed. She swallowed constantly, as if trying to keep something down.

Stella cast a look at Takuma, her normal hazel eyes tinged with a deep gold. Stella dropped the food on the ground, her inner wolf forcing her to act against her common knowledge. It caused her anger and made her want to contact her Pack through the mental bond and retrieve assistance to defeat a menace. She was losing her mind. She needed to calm down. She took a few breaths through her mouth, fully knowing that the smell of vampire would only make her crave destruction more.

_This is no good,_ Ashlen thought as she sighed deeply.

"Can you take this into Stella's room?" the witch asked, holding the fridge out for Takuma to take.

"Why does she have a fridge?" Takuma asked, but picked it up easily anyways.

"She wanted a place to keep her own food separate from the rest of the Night Class," Ashlen answered before picking up her own food. "It's a werewolf thing." She added before turning to her friend. Things were about to get ugly.

"Now, Stella, we can do this the easy way or the hard way?" Ashlen threatened, giving her the evil eye. Ashlen had a plan that only she could get away with doing.

Stella growled at Ashlen. Even if she was a friend, she wasn't a werewolf. "None of you are my Alpha." Stella repeated, looking at the people. She backed up and started down the steps. Her inner wolf was making her want to rejoin a hunting platoon and receive orders from her Alpha.

Rolling her eyes Ashlen went in for the attack. She ducked her body and grabbed at Stella so the werewolf would be slumped over the witch's shoulder. Chances were that Stella would fight against her friend and partner. However if it had been one of the vampires that did this Ashlen knew that they would be dead in seconds. "The sooner she gets inside the sooner she calms down."

"I take it the two of you know each other," Kaname stated rather than he asked. Ashlen only nodded as she tried to keep Stella balanced on her shoulder. Stella writhed and clawed at her friend, the only thoughts in her mind to get away so that she wouldn't hurt anyone when her inner wolf came out. Ashlen refused to let her go.

Stella bit Ashlen, hard, her sharpened teeth digging into the meat of her friend's shoulder. Since Ashlen was a magical mortal, she wasn't necessarily protected under Pack Law and therefore, Stella didn't have the orders to protect her.

"Stella! Don't bite people!" Takuma exclaimed, aghast at her behavior. She glared at the blonde and growled.

"Gah!" Ashlen cried out in pain. She had expected maybe some kicking and scratching but not a bite. Stella had made it clear that she wasn't allowed to bite people, so why had she? Even though she'd been to Packs before, Ashlen barely knew anything about her friend's species. It startled Ashlen so much that it caused her to fall on her stomach and to release Stella at the same time. Luckily Stella fell inside the Moon Dorms while Ashlen remained outside. She quickly gripped her bite wound and stood up shakily.

"I need to go now," Ashlen said and quickly turned around. She ran off before anyone could stop her.

Stella spat out the blood from her mouth, the taste disgusting her. She would never understand why ex-human werewolves enjoyed eating humans. _Humans, frankly, taste gross. _

"What was the Headmaster thinking, sending you here? You clearly lack control," Kaname said once the human was out of sight.

Takuma frowned in disappointment and confusion. "Kaname, is it just me or did her blood smell... odd?"

Stella glared at Kaname. "I have amazing control. It's not my fault that I was sent during the most trying time for a werewolf into the presence of not just a large group of vampires but also a pureblood as well. I recently been mortally wounded -actually I was injured three weeks ago and was proclaimed almost dead. I am doing a fantastic job not having killed you all by now. I think that you should hold your tongue before berating me on my 'self-control' when you obviously know nothing about my people."

"Perhaps not, but you bit a human. The punishment for that is a 2 week suspension. If you don't want to think of it as me giving you orders, consider this as time to heal from your wounds," Kaname said as he turned his back on Stella and slowly walked up the stairs. Takuma watched him go with a sweat drop. _This girl… she seemed to cause so much trouble! And she's frustrating too! _Takuma thought.

"He ignored me," Takuma spoke to himself before looking at the werewolf girl. "Come on, we best get you to your room before the others start complaining about the smell."

"I can't be suspended by him!" Stella protested. "He is not my Alpha!" _She let his comment over her healing go through one ear and out the other, _Takuma exclaimed to himself.

"Sorry, it's school rules," Takuma said as he began walking upstairs, expecting her to follow. "Besides, at least you have time to heal and rest now." He added with a bright smile, blushing slightly when he remembered seeing her in her underwear the night before. _She seems to have no sense of self. I wonder why she wasn't embarrassed to have me there when she was barely wearing anything. Maybe she was and just didn't show it. Or maybe it's because I'm a vampire and she's a werewolf? Am I over thinking this?_ Takuma shook his head slightly.

Stella noticed this and raised an eyebrow. However, she didn't mention it. _Vampires are so weird…_ she thought to herself.

"What's with the smell of blood?" a voice asked from somewhere upstairs.

Stella frowned and stomped after Takuma, a guilty feeling in her gut. She knew how Ashen was about people being bit. Even if Stella wasn't a vampire, and Ashlen knew that, the werewolf knew that her fangs were just like theirs. Without looking she answered the voice with a simple. "I bit someone."

Upon reaching the top floor both Takuma and Stella saw that it had been the sleepy looking Senri Shiki that had asked the question. He was already dressed in his Night Class uniform and had begun to head downstairs. There was fifteen minutes until class started and everyone was ready. Everyone that is, excluding Stella. She bristled inwardly then stopped herself. _Why do I want to get ready anyways?_ She asked herself, _I don't even like school. _

"Hmm, it's odd that the blood doesn't smell human," Senri stated bluntly and walked past the two. _Finally! _Takuma thought, _someone else noticed it!_

Stella snorted. "Trust me, she's human."

"If you say so," Shiki said, pushing a hand through his hair as he yawned tiredly before continuing down. "I was just pointing it out."

Takuma chuckled. "Sorry about Shiki. He's very blunt and usually doesn't think before he speaks. He's harmless though," the blond vampire apologized. As the two passed more vampires on the way to Stella's room, Stella noticed Takuma getting a lot of questions about the mini-fridge. She also noticed, although this part didn't really worry her, they didn't make inquiries on the groceries that she was carrying.

"You're probably wondering why I have a mini-fridge..." Stella commented, seeing as how Takuma hadn't been able to give a decent answer to the vampires. She knew that Ashlen had mentioned something about it, but she assumed that Takuma would want a better answer.

"Ah, no. The new prefect told me why earlier. You know, the Moon Dorms _do_ have its own kitchen," he said in a rather playful and friendly voice. She inwardly shrugged. He didn't understand, but she was fine with that.

Stella shrugged. "Yes. But, if I tried to explain my reasoning to you, you wouldn't understand."

"The prefect said it was a werewolf thing," he answered, smiling brightly as he entered Stella's bedroom. "Where would you like the fridge?"

Stella scowled at his helpfulness and crossed her arms. Motioning with a nod of her head, she pointed out a corner in her room. "Over there. That's where the nearest electrical outlet is."

Nodding, Takuma went over to the place Stella wanted the fridge to be put. Then he stood up and turned around, his smile dying down to more of a friendly one rather than a cheerful one. "Well, enjoy your night, Stella-san. Class is going to start soon so I need to be getting going."

Stella's lip curled and she sighed. "I don't care about classes. I have things I need to do anyways." She still had to contact Emma.

"Well then, good night," Takuma said as he walked to the doorway, stopping to look back at the werewolf girl. "Please don't do anything that will give Kaname much trouble," he warmly warned before leaving the room. He sighed to himself. Takuma really didn't get that girl.

Stella chuckled and said sarcastically to herself, "Of course, I wouldn't _dare_ upset a pureblood." With a sigh, she sat down on the edge of her bed before falling back. She flung an arm over her eyes and she groaned. "Yeah right."

The werewolf was getting tired of continuously messing up. She knew that she couldn't blame anyone other than herself for her lack of self-control. Even if her wolf eyes had matured into gold –the color of self-control –she was constantly waiting for them to become something else. She sighed to herself. Her respect for werewolves that gave up the traditional ways to live among humans had been mounting. If they had to deal with these feelings every time that they came within smelling distance of a vampire, she was amazed that they could hold their inner wolves in so efficiently. Someone like her, a pureblood from the best bloodline, could barely handle it.

There was a big difference between werewolves and vampires –this Stella couldn't deny. The pureblood werewolves were numerous and prosperous. In the Lycan world, it was the other types that could barely be found. This was completely different for vampires who could barely find any of their purebloods. Also, pureblooded werewolves were nowhere near perfect as the vampire equivalent were. No, werewolves were definitely handed the short end of the evolutionary stick. She groaned. That Kuran –acting as if he could tell her what to do. The very thought of a leech acting as an Alpha made her blood boil with anger. It was blasphemy and the deepest taboo –for a vampire to command a werewolf.

Stella couldn't bring herself to overcome this fact. And who did that Ichijou guy think he was anyways –smiling at her all the time and acting as if they were friends. The very thought of befriending a vampire made her feel nauseated. It was like indigestion. She sat up and then frowned. She wished that she could be mad at Ichijou for insufferably following Kuran's orders, but she couldn't because she knew that if it was her Alpha and if she was in his place, Stella would do the exact same thing. Even if she couldn't know for sure –she did think that the way Alphas controlled were different from vampire purebloods. That's because, in a werewolf Pack, the Alphas aren't chosen through bloodline and pedigree.

In her world, it's literally survivor takes all. If a wolf is unhappy with the Alpha and wants to challenge, he can –however, the Alpha will not hold anything back and will kill the opposition without hesitation. The phrase "dog eat dog" applied heavily to her process of thinking, and it was hard for Stella to understand the vampires' devotion to their leaders. She knew why, she is a werewolf after all, but she just couldn't wrap her mind around it. Why would you follow someone that could be taken out easily? In the werewolf system, Alphas are the cream of the crop –the ones that no one can kill. Mutual respect is found between the twelve leaders because they know that they are all on the same level with each other.

Even the vain leader of Maxh, Adrastos, couldn't hold himself higher.

Her hierarchy is complicated to outsiders –which is why the werewolves don't share it with others. It's theirs alone, and they understand it. Other races, species –whatever you want to call it –could never get their world. It's primitive, and the Lykánthro̱pos know that. Stella had tried to explain it to Ashlen and Suzuki in the past –but neither the witch nor wizard could comprehend what she was telling them. Kazan, even though he tried and could get it better, was unable to.

Stella sighed and turned over on her bed before fixing the uncomfortable fabric of her overly loose shirt. Guilt ate up her stomach and she frowned, turning over again onto her stomach this time. She winced and flipped onto her back. She was still in pain from when she had redone her stitches the night before. Stella knew she shouldn't have bit Ashlen, but in the moment, her inner wolf wouldn't have it any other way. Sighing again, and deciding to put a cap on her pride, Stella picked up her holographic communicator from where she had haphazardly thrown it last night and then unlocked it. She scrolled through the Elite and then tapped on Ashlen's contact. Stella watched the white screen as it tried to connect to the witch's device.

Ashlen, who had been tending to the bite wound, heard her communicator go off. Applying the last bandage Ashlen grabbed the communicator and placed it on her dresser before opening it. Upon doing so, a guilty looking holographic Stella appeared. "Have you calmed down?" Ashlen asked, redressing into her school uniform. The witch rolled her shoulder and grimaced in pain as the movement irritated the wound.

"Yes. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be calling you."

Ashlen nodded and finished putting her uniform on, pushing up the prefect badge up her arm. "Well I won't lie… You surprised me. At most I thought you'd claw at my back." The witch admitted and adjusted her shirt so it would hide the bandage. Being bit had definitely startled the girl.

"My inner wolf was uncontrollable."

"It's fine but you really need to get a replacement collar as soon as possible. So, how much trouble are you in?" Ashlen questioned as she hid a knife in her pocket. As a prefect she had to have a weapon; plus she wasn't allowed to use her magic as her existence as a witch was secret to the vampires. She didn't quite get it, but in her files, it said that she was to remain a secret. If Ashlen had to guess, it was so that if they needed to fight, she could be the secret weapon. The vampires most definitely wouldn't suspect a witch to be in their midst.

"Oh, just two weeks suspension. Apparently vampire rules apply to werewolves as well. Whoops."

"Well if this is a mission of peace between humans and vampires I'm guessing biting humans on school grounds really is a no no," Ashlen smirked, snickering as she looked at her watch for the time.

Stella shrugged, "For all we know, Kaname could just be tooting our horn, so to speak. I'm sure that Cross told him our true objective."

"He is the dorm president, after all," she said with a shrug before smiling kindly at her friend. "You'll be fine, Stella. I have to go before the Moon Dorm gates open. Are you going to spend tonight just resting?" Ashlen asked as she reached over for her communicator.

"Yeah. What else is there to do? I guess I could get a head start on the files. I also need to contact Emma still."

"Alright, good luck. I'll start on my half of the files tomorrow I guess. Wait, is tomorrow a Friday or Saturday?" she asked quickly, about to close the device.

Stella thought for a moment. "It's Saturday."

"Oh, then we will be going into town. We need to help that witch girl..." Ashlen trailed off and her shoulders dropped. "Who I forgot the name of. Anyways, I _really_ have to go now. Talk later," she said, shutting her communicator completely. Stella sighed and stared at the blank screen.

"Great," she muttered. "I have to wake up tomorrow. During the day." she paused and then pursed her lips. "Wait. Will I even be able to go with my suspension? Oh well, I don't care about Kaname's rules anyways."

She scrolled through her contact list again until she came to the Elite section. Emma was currently residing in Australia, her place of origin, with Byggtork, a fire drake. Stella pressed her name and waited for the connection to take place. She hoped that the time lapse wouldn't be too bad. Emma quickly answered and her face came on. Luckily for Stella, Emma wasn't in her natural state –which was green skinned and scaly. Emma, in her human form, still had markings on her face that looked like dripping black and purple paint around her visible eye. Her hair was a disheveled hot pink that faded into a dark, almost black shade and was styled in a few braids with the rest of the mass hanging down around her shoulders with bangs obscuring one of her teal eyes. She wore pink lensed goggles on her head, like a headband and had fingerless black gloves on her hands. Fishnet was draped like a shirt over her bikini top and she had a small, lacy skirt over her bottoms.

"Hello there, mate," Emma began, looking at Stella lazily. "Long time no see."

Stella chuckled at her fellow Elite. "How long's it been?" Stella questioned. "A year or two?"

Emma shrugged. "I don't really know. After Rexdeal sent Byggtork and I down here to be supply carriers, time kind of started to pass us by."

"How is Byggtork by the way?" Stella asked.

"Pretty good I guess. I'd offer for you to talk with him, but he's kind of busy at the moment. We also sell to the mortals as well. Painful work, that is, but it's got to be done by someone. Suzuki came by the other month, asked how you and Ash were, but I told him that I couldn't rightly say since I hadn't seen the two of you for so long. He was kind of let down, but he got what he needed and left anyways. Said that he'd finally fulfilled his lifelong dream of being a pirate captain or something like that."

"You talk as much as always, I see," Stella laughed and Emma nodded.

"Byggtork's kind of quiet, so I forgot that some people like to throw something in sometimes too."

"Sometimes? Well, it's not like we can ever get a word in edgewise."

Emma sighed. "I hate to get down to business, but Byggtork and I are kind of busy at the moment. What do you need? I doubt you'd call for socialization."

"I need to order in some products."

"Right," Emma leaned back and then grabbed her notebook for orders. Uncapping a pen with her teeth and spitting the lid out onto the floor, she asked. "What is it?"

"I need to order a few months' worth of the pills that control my transformations. My collar's broken, and I'm surrounded by a bunch of vampires right now. I'm having a hard time. Also, Ashlen needs some potions that will help stimulate her so that she can function without a good amount of sleep."

"Got it, three containers of Lupus Controlare and a box of Exsuscito potions," she quickly scribbled the order onto her pad. "You mentioned that your collar was broken. Would you like to send it in with the drachmas?"

Stella thought for a moment, "How soon can I get it back?"

Emma shrugged. "I won't know until I can assess the damage. I think it would be best if you gave it to Byggtork and I. It's no use to wear around a useless one. If you want, since I keep a few on stock, I can send you a temporary one."

"Alright, that sounds good," Stella said and then unclasped her collar.

"Great! I should have the order to you in a few hours. Byggtork will bring it."

"Thanks Emma."

"No problem! If you guys need anything, just ask. Oh, and the payment will be five drachmas. I'm sure you have brought enough?"

Stella nodded. "Yeah, I got it. Thanks again."

"You're welcome, again," turning around Emma shouted. "Byggtork! I need you back her for a minute!"

Stella laughed. "I love his name. Byggtork Eldapust. It's almost as good as Nemajneb Notlem.

Emma shook her head. "The most unfortunate –but funny! –name that I've ever heard has to be a young elf agent named Concobhar Maceachthighearna."

Stella grimaced. "Oh, that's a bad one."

"Don't ever name your children that."

Stella nodded adamantly while snickering. "The same can go for you."

"I'll have that package to you soon."

"Got it."

"Bye."

"Bye."

With that, Stella hung up the communication. It was nice to be able to talk to her old friend. While she had many enemies, she loved everyone in the Elite. The group of ten had always been close and is bonded with each other. This is due to the fact that they all have to trust each other with their lives. It had made everyone sad when their numbers continued to decrease while they were all sent on long missions. Melody was monitoring a pureblood; Emma and Byggtork were dispatched to work in Australia, and now this. Stella and Ashlen had been sent away as well. Stella wished that she'd been able to say goodbye to her friends.

Still, the thing she missed the most was the closeness she had in her Pack. She missed her sister and brothers. She missed her fellow Lycans. She missed her three cute nephews –Menolaos, Ioustos, and Kadmous. She missed the sense of unity she had with them, but most of all, she missed her Alpha. Stella threw the communicator to the dresser beside her bed and then lay down, not bothering to change before trying to go to sleep. Even if she was nocturnal –through and through –the day's activities had made her exhausted. She knew that she needed to sleep.

Closing her eyes, and shutting of the functions of her inner selves, Stella began to dream.

And in her dreams, she ran.

She ran.

She ran after an impossible chance.

She ran after an impossible fantasy.

She ran after an impossible reality.

And even though she knew that it was impossible, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was worth chasing.

* * *

**Hello dearest readers! Thank you for take the time out of your day to read this next installment. So, can you tell what Stella's chasing? Those of you who read the original probably can. Anyways. I'd like to remind you about my poll. I'd appreciate it if you voted. I'd appreciated it if you reviewed too but…**

**Thank you and have a great day/night! **


	10. Chapter 9: Troublesome Duty

Ashlen looked stared at herself in the mirror on her vanity after throwing her messenger onto her bed. On her wrist, she hooked a magic bracelet that unfolded into a shield and strapped a small dagger with a jeweled hilt onto her thigh beneath her black, pleated skirt. She looked herself over in the mirror to make sure that her knife and bandages were not visible. She nodded at herself before heading out of the door. Knowing that the Day Class girls were already outside, she set herself onto the banister and slid down swiftly, her feet landing on the ground floor firmly. The impact stung her ankles, and she stopped to rub the bones that had clanged together. In her occupation, it was easy to wear out one's joints.

She jogged out of the dorm's large front doors and quickly made her way down the path to where the Moon Dorms, and surrounding Day Class fangirls, were located. As she got within hearing distance, she could already feel the pain of the piercing "KYAAA" sound that exited the girls' mouths. She inwardly sweat dropped. This is why she hated fangirls. They made the most annoying sounds.

Ashlen quickly made her way to the gates, knowing that she had a mission to fulfill. For her, tonight was the beginning of her true mission -to monitor the vampires. It was quite smart actually, Ashlen thought, having her become a prefect. She could take care of things outside, while Stella was able to observe the Night Class inside. It was a typical scenario in the Elite's strategies. The defensive members would be the ones to hold ground in a fight, while offensive members like Stella or Kazan, would drive the adversary off of their ground. Of course, Ashlen knew that they weren't fighting -yet- but she was sure the set up was to prepare for that type of situation.

"No, you can't get any closer. Get back," Yuki could be heard saying as she tried to push a group of fan girls. In response to her need for peace, the fangirls turned on her, accusing the shorthaired girl of wanting to keep the Night Class for herself. Ashlen hurriedly joined her at the front of the crowd, and began to help the smaller girl.

"Hello, would you please back up?" Ashlen asked politely as she stepped beside Yuki. The fan girls looked at with eyes full of hatred.

_They don't respect me yet..._ Ashlen thought, inwardly sighing. She'd have to do something about that later, but for the moment, she knew that she shouldn't do anything drastic to them.

"Get back!" Yuki shouted once more, pushing the mass of teenagers away from the gates. Ashlen looked over to see what she was doing and began the less-effective-than-magic maneuver. Placing her hands on the crowd, she started to push against them with all her might. After a while of resisting the force, her arms began to tremble with the stress.

"Step away from the path!" Ashlen shouted to them as she pushed. A few of the girls were shoved from within the crowd while another few scurried out of the way. This caused a ripple through the girls near her.

"Watch it!" said a girl with curly hair as she pitched forward slightly. With a disgusted look on her face, she moved away and others in the crowd followed her example. She went to a different part of the crowd.

Ashlen was starting to get really annoyed. She didn't want to do anything drastic, but how far was that exactly? Maybe she could have a little harmless fun that could also result in helping her and Yuki. So she stopped pushing and gave a mean smile.

"Wow, do you practice that look in the mirror or are you really that ugly?" she asked bluntly. The girls looked shocked for a moment before becoming extremely angry. _That's right_, Ashlen thought, _take the bait. Take it_.

"Do you practice that one?" one of them said nastily back, matching Ashlen's sneer with one of her own. Another girl piped up:

"Why should we take sass from you, foreigner? You're not even Japanese!"

"You want to know why you should listen?" Ashlen asked innocently as she pointed a finger at herself. She smirked and laughed. "Let's just say you don't want to get on my bad side. Now, why don't you be good little girl and step back so the gates don't hurt you when they open."

The other girl growled at her and then huffed, before turning away. Apparently, she couldn't stand confrontation. A loud cranking sound came from behind Ashlen and the witch turned around on her heel to watch the large Moon Dorm gates open up. As one, the girls to the side of her let out an ear piercing screech that was worse than that of a banshee. Ashlen covered her ears and watched as the vampires filled out slowly, obviously putting on fan-service for the surrounding girls -and few guys.

Seeing as how she already knew that Stella was suspended, Ashlen wasn't surprised to notice that the werewolf was not in the crowd. Immediately, she wired her mind for her mission and took in the appearances of the vampires. Two blondes boys, one redhead and one with mahogany hair that were male, as well as a bluish haired female, a girl with long hair, and one with her orange hair in pigtails. Following them -although the rest were obviously not as popular with the fangirls –were brunette vampires.

_So the blond haired blue eyed vampire is Aido Hanabusa, the blond haired greed eyed boy is Ichijou Takuma and is the vampire I met earlier. The dark haired boy with wine eyes is Kaname Kuran; the Pureblood and president of the Night Class and Moon Dorms. The tall red head male must be Kain Akatsuki and he is walking next to the Aido vampire. The information said they were cousins,_ Ashlen thought before moving onto the other vampires._ The red headed girl with pig tails must be Toya Rima and the mahogany haired boy must be Shiki Senri. My information said they were models, _Ashlen thought again before moving to the next vampire. _'I remember seeing her photo but I didn't catch her name. Ruka something I think,_ Ashlen thought again and frowned to herself. She was lucky she was able to read all that she could before getting bored. There were too many files to read through, even after splitting them with Stella. She only managed to get through six and a half before giving up.

The Ichijou kid saw her with the masses and then, as if reminded of something, went over to her. Ashlen gave him a strange look before he stopped walking. The boy smiled brightly at her.

"Hello Ashlen-san," he began. "How is your shoulder?"

"My shoulder is fine, Ichijou-san," Ashlen answered calmly even if she was very uncomfortable on the inside. Even if he was humanlike, he was still a vampire.

Ichijou's smile turned cheerful. "That's good. I would like to apologize for Stella's behavior. Um," here he paused to look back at where the vampires were, "if you don't mind me asking, how do you know Stella? I was a bit confused when I saw the two of you together."

Looking around at the girls that started to glare at her, Ashlen sighed and then regained her composure. "We are childhood friends, Ichijou-san. If you have any more questions do you mind waiting until there are no girls glaring down my back?" The girls did not intimidate her at all, but Ashlen had enough stress for today and didn't need any more.

Ichijou nodded. "Alright then. I apologize, once more, Ashlen-san. Stella has been suspended for two weeks. I thought you might like to know since the two of you seemed to be close."

Ashlen sighed and put a hand over her forehead, shaking it slowly in remembrance of Stella's reckless actions. "Thanks for telling me and I'm sorry if she is being a handful to you guys," Ashlen apologized back. Finally, she couldn't stand the stares anymore and spun around to face the girls.

"Stop glaring at me, you aemulator promiscua mula-canes!" she shouted, fists clenched with frustration. She insulted the females in Latin –the language of magic.

The girls decided that it was best to ignore her, although they did share disgruntled mutters and looks at being yelled at in another language. After that outburst, Takuma said:

"Well, classes will start soon. I'd best be going. I'll see you tomorrow, Ashlen-san," before walking to join the rest of his classmates. It was obvious he was taken aback by her outburst. It was impolite –something that was very different in the way he was raised by his grandfather. The other vampires looked at him with questioning eyes.

"Who was that, Ichijou?" asked the amber eyed Kain Akatsuki.

Takuma smiled at them. "It's the new prefect that Kaname and I met earlier."

"How curious," Aido Hanabusa interjected before looking at her suspiciously. It did not seem like a coincidence that another Day Class student had transferred in at the same time as their werewolf classmate. The blue eyed vampire assumed an expression pleasing to the feminine eye and strolled over to the newest prefect. He waved his hand in the air, paying attention to his precious fangirls as he was on his way so it didn't seem like he was targeting her specifically. Seeing what he was doing, Takuma said:

"Aido-!" but, knowing the effort was futile, stopped his sentence short. Ashlen continued to keep the girls away from the Night Class boys, fear consuming her that one might fall in the clamor and get scrapped or scratched. She knew that it was rude of her to pay no mind to the Ichijou boy's farewell, but having him say "I'll see you tomorrow" had greatly distressed the witch. She still held a fearsome, bitter hatred towards the Vampiric race.

"Hey girls," came a slightly irritating, nerve-grating voice. "Who's the new prefect?"

_Great,_ Ashlen judged sarcastically, _another vampire to deal with. _The Day Class girls began a racket as they started complaining on how it was unfair that the new girl was able to be a prefect, and how they –members of the academy since it had been opened –were not. Aido went along with their sentiments for a while and Ashlen spared a look over her shoulder. Taking in the white uniform, disheveled blonde hair, and cerulean eyes, she deduced that it was indeed Aido Hanabusa inquiring about her.

Crossing her arms over her chest and turning fully around to face the boy who had come up to her, she asked sardonically, "Is there something you need…?"

"Aido," he supplied.

"Is there something you need, Aido-senpai?" _This is getting worse by the second; _Ashlen speculated pessimistically,_ more vampires and more KYAAA. I need to get a raise._

"What's your name?" Aido asked, his hands clasped behind his back as he rocked forward, a wide smile on his face. He was the poster-child of innocence, but Ashlen was not blinded by appearance. _Once a bloodsucker, always a bloodsucker._

"Ashlen," she responded flatly. "Now that you know that piece of information, get to class. You won't be tardy because you were talking to me."

"That's not very nice," he pouted, sticking his bottom lip out. The surrounding female population, began to KYAA and AWW at the apparently "kawaii" expression on his perfect face. Ashlen took on a counteracting dead expression, making her eyes grow dull, and forced herself to look bored –all to hide her growing irritation at the fans. Inwardly, she cursed her boss for putting her into the situation. It was not fun in the least, and she was seriously regretting taking Kazan's proposal to join the Guild after the centaur had saved her.

"Actually, you're right," Ashlen told him, "I'm not really all that nice. I'd advise you not to make me angry. I'm not a prefect because I feel like it."

Aido sighed. "Alright, if you insist," turning towards his fangirls, he waved madly. "I'll see you beautiful ladies tomorrow at sunset!"

"Yeah, I'll be counting away the hours," Ashlen muttered to herself. Seeing that Aido had not moved on, she came up to him and smiled innocently. "If you don't leave right this instant, I'll show you the true face of evil."

"Scary!" Aido laughed, before jogging to where his classmates were. As he rejoined him, Ashlen saw his posture change as he began to speak with one of the other vampires –the red-haired boy who was said to be his cousin in the files she had read. Everything about the way that he pulled his shoulders in and leaned forward screamed that he was being secretive. Ashlen narrowed her eyes. She would have to watch out for this one. He could be trouble.

Turning off her mission mode setting, she groaned, "Sweet Mother. Is it like this every evening?" She watched as the girls walked excitedly back to their dorms as the Night Class hype died down. Shaking her head, she walked off, wanting to get somewhere to practice her magic.

* * *

Ashlen slipped back into the Sun Dorms, retreating up the stairs to her one-bed room. She was extremely exhausted from the day's events and night patrol. Luckily, nothing had happened and she had inevitably ended up sitting on a roof top to read her magic tome _A Collection of Offensive Spells for Nature Element_ by Gul'dan Salazar. She probably should have paid more attention to what was going on around her, but she also knew that she needed to study up on her offensive magic. Sadly, though, she was still having trouble with the basic spells in chapter one. Her offense was terrible in the physical aspect, and apparently that transferred over to her magic as well.

She tucked the thick tome underneath her armpit and clomped up the stairs, not even trying to be silent in the early morning hours. It was a Friday night, meaning that most of the girls were probably still awake anyways. Friday means that Saturday is next. She sighed. She had to take Akira, the newbie witch girl, out tomorrow so that she could help her with her magic. Hopefully Stella would be able to come as well.

"U-Um," came a stutter from the shadows. Ashlen sleepily turned around, and saw Akira step out. The large busted girl pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and crossed her arms. "Ashlen-san, I was wondering if I could talk to you."

Ashlen peered around Akira's shoulder and saw a pillow as well as a blanket and a book. "Were you camping here to wait for me?"

Akira nodded shyly. "Yes. I was just wondering if you could tell me where we should meet tomorrow to go out to town."

"Uh," Ashlen stared blankly at the other girl. "I don't know."

Akira, sensing the other girl's tiredness giggled slightly. "Why don't we meet at the front doors around 10? That way you can sleep in a little bit."

"Sounds good," Ashlen replied absently. Akira sighed and went to gather her things.

"I'll see you then, Ashlen-san. I'll be going back to my room now. Get some rest."

"I don't need to be told," Ashlen laughed before walking the opposite direction of Akira to her room. She was glad that she'd be getting some shut eye.

**I hope you have enjoyed the latest installment. I apologize for it being late; however, I am very busy with life outside of fanfiction. Thank you for reading and I hope that you stayed tuned for the next chapter in this saga. **

**Reviews are demanded. **


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